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THE U8RARV OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two Cow to Reosived 

SEP. IS 1902 

Copyright entry 

CLASS CCXKc No 

COI«Y 3. 



Copyright, 1902 



By Jamteson-Higgins Co. 



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C C C C I <■ 



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MARY AND THE INFANT JESUS 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Hagar, The Egyptian, ... 11 

II. Rebekah, The Chosen of God, . . 25 

III. The Two Sisters, Leah and Rachel, . 41 

IV. Miriam, The Good Sister, ... 51 
V. Aehsah, The Daughter of Caleb, . 71 

VI. Jephthah's Daughter, ... 83 

VII. Ruth, The Gleaner, ... 95 

VIII. The Little Captive Maid, . . . Ill 

IX. Jezebel, Child and Woman, . . 125 

X. Queen Esther, .... 135 

XL The Virgin Mary, .... 163 

XII. Salome, The Dancer, . . . 173 

XIII. The Daughter of Jairus, . . . 185 

XIV. Mary and Martha of Bethany, . . 199 
XV. The Slave Girl of Philippi, . . 211 



Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that 
feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. 

Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works 
praise her in the gates.— Proverbs xxxi,30 and 31. 



There is a vision in the heart of each 

Of justice, mercy, wisdom, tenderness 

To wrong and pain, and knowledge of its cure — 

And these embodied in a woman's form. 

— Robert Browning. 
May you walk, as through life's road 
Every noble woman can, 
With a pure heart before God, 
And a true heart unto man ! — Muloch, 



INTRODUCTION 

Girls who live in Christian lands owe more to the Bible than 
can be easily told. When heathen girl babies are born they are 
almost always unwelcome. Boys are greeted with joy, but girls 
are an occasion of grief. If a Hindu woman has a daughter before 
she has a son she is supposed to have fallen under the severe dis- 
pleasure of the goddess, Vishnu. Her women friends come to 
condole with her and often her husband refuses to look at her, or 
to speak to her, or to notice her in any way for weeks. In China 
a new-born girl is considered usually only as one more child to 
be fed and clothed, and is often gotten rid of on that account. 
Sometime she is killed and sometimes left by a river bank or a 
roadside to be picked up by a passer-by. Christian missionaries 
have saved hundreds of these poor babies and have trained them 
*o be their efficient helpers and faithful servants of the cross. 

It is a significant fact that the first convert to Christianity in 
Europe was a woman — Lydia, the seller of purple who was bap- 
tized by St. Paul, the pioneer missionary. Since the time of the 
"Apostle to the Gentiles" missionaries have accomplished a great 
part of their work through the agency of women and, in turn, 
have been always the champions of women and children. 

Hebrew women from the first played a prominent part in the 
history of their race. Among them were poets, prophets, leaders 
and saviours of their people. 

Miriam was second only to Moses and Aaron in the councils 
of the Israelites ; Deborah held the highest political office among 
the tribes — that of Judge, since there was no king in her day. 
Moreover, Deborah was a prophetess regarded with especial favor 
by the Lord. It was Hannah who dedicated Samuel to God, a 
deed which made her prominent among the mothers of Israel ; 
and Ruth and Esther have given their names to books of the Bible. 

Women were chosen by Christ to be His friends and were in- 



structed in religion as carefully as were the men. The venerable 
Anna hailed the infant Jesus as the Messiah, and an archangel 
announced the birth of the Holy Child to Mary, the most blessed 
of women. 

The stories of the women and girls of the Bible are full of in- 
terest. Women, good or bad, influenced men to perform deeds 
from which lessons have been drawn for countless generations and 
they acted themselves wisely or foolishly; the records of their 
doings being preserved to be used as warnings or examples. A 
pillar of salt, which is said to be the identical one which was once 
Lot's wife, is still shown to travelers in the region of the Dead 
Sea. Her disobedience made its own monument. These other 
women live still in their deeds and the stories of their lives* are 
told as a memorial of them wherever the gospel is preached, as 
Christ foretold of gentle Mary who annointed his feet with costly 
spikenard. 

Sometimes, just one act has been recorded, one picture shown. 
Yet that tells all that it is necessary for us to know, or more would 
have been written. Pondering over a few verses and reading 
them in the light of profane history we may find a whole story 
written between the lines. 

Says Jesus, "Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think that 
ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me." 

"Could we with ink the ocean fill, 
Were all the sky of parchment made, 
Were every single stick a quill, 
And every man a scribe by trade, — 
To write the love of God above 
Would drain the ocean dry, 
Nor could the scroll contain the whole 
Though stretched from sky to sky." 



If AGAR, THE EGYPTIAN 



1 



Thou, God, seest me. Genesis xvi, 13. 



Sarai, Abram's wife had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose 
name was Hagar. Genesis xvi, 1. 



Heaven must be very near us, else how can the angels be so 
near to us and yet so near to God ? — Schonberg-Cotta Family. 



She stood beside the well her God had given 
To gush in that deep wilderness, and bathed 
The forehead of her child until he laugh'd 
In his reviving happiness, and lisp'd 
His infant thought of gladness at the sight 
Of the cool plashing of his mother's hand. 

— N. P. Willis. 




Chapter I 
ZiAGAH, T/iE EGYPTIAN 



ONG ago, when the world 
was young, and there 
were not anything like 
so many people in it as 
there are now, lived 
Abraham and Sarah, his 
wife. Abraham was a 
very good man. He was called the 
friend of God. God had chosen him 
out of all the world to be the head of a 
great people, the children of Israel. 
These are the people that the Bible 
tells about, after the time of Abra- 
ham. It tells about other men and 
women, also, but chiefly about the 
children of Israel. Jesus Christ 
was descended from Abraham. So 
in Abraham and his children, and his children's 
children all the world was blessed. 

Abraham and Sarah lived in far-away Asia. 
Asia was the cradle of the human race, the birth- 
place of man and woman. It was there that Adam 
and Eve lived, and Cain and Abel, and Noah and his 




11 



12 



HAGAR, THE EGYPTIAN. 



wife. Noah had three sons — Ham, Shem and 
Japheth. Shem stayed in Asia, and lived there 
always, but Japheth went to Europe, and he and his 
children lived there; and Ham went to Africa. 

Abraham was a very rich man. He had great 
flocks of sheep and vast herds of cattle and camels, 
and he claimed many acres of land. He and his 
followers lived in tents; they moved about to find 
pastures for the flocks and herds. Every time that 
they went to a new place they took their tents with 
them. These were made of skins, or of stuff woven 
of black goats' hair, upheld by poles and ropes. The 
ends of the tent -ropes were fastened to short sticks 
or pins which were driven into the ground with a 
mallet. When it was time to move, the pins were 
pulled up, the tents were taken down and packed on 
the backs of camels, and soon only a few holes in 
the ground and a heap or two of ashes marked the 
place where the home had .been. The Arabs of to- 
day live in just such tents as did Abraham, Isaac and 
Jacob so long ago. 

Sometimes Abraham and Sarah went to other 
countries to visit. It was while they were in Egypt 
that Abraham bought Hagar. Probably she was 
only a child, and she grew up in Sarah's household, 
almost like a daughter. She learned to cook, to spin 
and to sew, and to take care of the milk and to 
make butter. 

The butter of those days was made by shaking 
milk up and down until the fatty parts left the whey. 
There is a story that Abraham's servants did not 



HAGAB, THE EGYPTIAN. 13 

know how to make butter until they were taught it 
by accident. They were fleeing before their enemies ; 
some of the camels were laden with provisions, and 
the bottles of milk got a tremendous shaking. These 
bottles were not made of glass like ours, or they 
would have been broken all to pieces; they were 
skins. Often the whole of a goat -skin, except the 
head and the feet, was used for one bottle. The 
skin was tanned and the hairy part left outside, the 
openings, except the neck, being sewed up tight. 
Kid-skins were used for water bottles. When 
Abraham's servants opened their bottles they thought 
that the milk was spoiled, but they tasted it and 
found it good with their bread ; it was butter. After- 
ward they made butter on purpose. Perhaps they 
had their camels run back and forth in order to shake 
up the milk, but in time they must have found a 
better way of doing. 

In those days a man was allowed to have more 
than one wife, so, when Hagar was old enough, Sarah 
gave her to Abraham to marry. Girls marry very 
young in eastern countries, sometimes at ten and 
twelve years of age. So, much of their girl -hood is 
after they are married, and it is probable that Hagar 
was in her early teens when she became Abraham's 
wife. Almost everything that is said about her 
shows her young and thoughtless. It was a promo- 
tion for her to be married to her master and she put 
on airs. She believed herself equal to her mistress, 
which she was not, for there was a great difference 
between a wife who had been a slave and one who 



14 HAGAB, THE EGYPTIAN. 

had been free always. Besides, Sarah was old, and 
the mistress of the entire household. When Hagar 
became rude and impertinent, Sarah complained to 
Abraham, and he told her that Hagar was her maid 
and that she might do with her whatever she 
pleased. 

The Bible says that Sarah " dealt hardly" with 
Hagar. The girl ran away, probably intending to 
go back to her old home in Egypt. She followed an 
inland caravan route, over which companies of 
merchants travelled from Egypt to far-away coun- 
tries, carrying with them beautiful and costly wares. 
This was foolish of her, for she would have had to 
cross deserts and wildernesses infested by robbers 
and wild beasts, through which even the caravans 
did not go without being guarded by soldiers. Be- 
sides, how was she to get anything to eat and to 
drink? Wells were far apart and hard to find, and 
when at last she came to one, she sank down ex- 
hausted. And the Angel of the Lord looked down 
and saw her alone and unprotected. 

When the Old Testament speaks of the Angel 
of God, or the Angel of Jehovah, or the Angel of the 
Lord, we believe that God, Himself, is meant. 

And the Angel of the Lord said: "Hagar, 
Sarai's maid, whence comest thou?" 

Of course God knew all about poor, tired Hagar, 
and what she was doing, for he does not forget His 
children, but He listened to their prayers then, as 
He listens to them now. 

Hagar must have been very much frightened 




HAGAR, THE EGYPTIAN 



■ i 



HAGAK, THE EGYPTIAN. 17 

when she heard the voice, for although God talked 
directly with Abraham in those far-away days, she 
had never heard His voice before. She must have 
hidden her face and have answered almost in a 
whisper : 

" I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai." 

This was before Sarah's name had been changed 
from Sarai to Sarah. Not long afterward the Lord 
appeared to Abram, as he was then called, and com- 
manded him to be called Abraham and Sarai to be 
Sarah. It is by these names that we know them 
best. 

And the Angel of the Lord told Hagar to go 
Dack to her mistress and to wait on her and do what 
she told her. But He gave Hagar a beautiful promise 
to take with her. She was to have a son who was 
to be called Ishmael. 

Then Hagar knew that she was in the very 
presence of God, and she cried : " Is it possible that 
I can live after seeing God? " 

And she gave the well a new name in memory 
of the event, calling it "Beer-lahai-roi," which 
means "The Well of Living and Seeing." Then 
she went back to Sarah as the Lord had commanded. 
Perhaps He softened her mistress' heart toward her, 
but even though Sarah were harsh again, the girl 
was better able to bear it. She had been comforted 
by God who was going to give her a son. 

When the boy was born, his father called him 
Ishmael, as the Angel of the Lord had foretold. 



18 HAGAB, THE EGYPTIAN. 

Abraham was eighty -six years old when this son 
was given him. 

Although Ishmael was Abraham's first child, he 
was not to be his heir. When Abraham was nearly 
a hundred years old he was sitting in his tent door, 
in the heat of the day, when he looked up and saw 
three men approaching. He ran to meet them, and 
bowed down to the ground, by way of salutation, as 
is the custom in the east. And he invited them to 
stop and rest under the trees near his tent. They 
consented, so he had some water brought that the 
strangers might wash their feet, for they wore sandals 
instead of shoes, and their feet were dusty and 
warm. Sandals consist merely of leather soles 
fastened to the feet by straps. 

Then Abraham hastened into the tent and told 
Sarah to take some fine meal and make some bread 
quickly. The bread in those days was made in flat 
cakes which became stale very soon. So fresh ones 
had to be baked every day. And Abraham served 
the bread, and some meat, and milk and butter to the 
men under the trees, and he stood by while they ate. 

And the strangers asked: "Where is Sarah, 
thy wife?" 

And Abraham answered : 4 ' She is in the tent . ' ' 

Then Abraham was told that Sarah should have 
a son, and the strangers went on their way. They 
had been sent by God. 

And it came to pass, as it had been said; the 
son was born, and he was called Isaac. 

When Isaac was two or three years old Abra- 



HAGAR, THE EGYPTIAN. 19 

ham and Sarah gave a feast in his honor. But Ish- 
mael, who was quite a big boy by this time and 
was jealous of little Isaac, made fun of the baby and 
his mother. Perhaps he thought that the feast 
should have been in his honor, for he was the older 
son. Sarah was much displeased, not only with 
Ishmael, but with his mother, Hagar, and she urged 
Abraham to send both of them away. 

It was not only that Sarah wanted Ishmael and 
his mother punished, but she was afraid that the 
father might care as much for Ishmael as he did for 
Isaac. She was Abraham's first wife, and had been 
a princess in her own country, and she believed that 
Isaac should be his father's only heir. 

Abraham was grieved, for he loved both Ish- 
mael and Hagar, and he was unwilling to send them 
away. But God spoke to him and told him what to 
do. He was to grant Sarah's request; Isaac was to 
be the heir, and from him were to be descended the 
children of Israel, the great Hebrew nation, but the 
Lord would take care of Ishmael and make him also 
the founder of a mighty people. 

So Abraham arose early in the morning and told 
Hagar that she and her son must go away. He gave 
them bread to take with them, and a skin of water. 
Hagar put the food and drink on her shoulder and 
started off, followed by Ishmael. They wandered 
in the wilderness, perhaps for days. Soon their 
water was gone. We can imagine how Hagar had 
treasured it, making it go as far as possible. She 
must have felt faint and tired, yet she thought not 



20 HAGAR, THE EGYPTIAN. 

of herself but of Ishmael who was so exhausted that 
he could go no farther. She was afraid that he 
would die. 

In the great deserts people often die of thirst. 
Travelers tell us that there is no more terrible tor- 
ture than that of doing without water. Sometimes 
this horrible thirst is suffered by ship -wrecked sai]- 
ors on the ocean. They have plenty of water around 
them, but it is salt and not fit to drink. In the 
deserts there is no water except at the oases or green 
spots, which are few and far between. Some oases 
are large enough to hold little farms which are 
carefully cultivated; others are so small that they 
consist of only a few bushes and a little grass which 
have sprung up around a spring or a well. The 
small ones sometimes disappear entirely; the hot 
sun withers the grass and the shrubbery, and the 
shifting winds cover the wells with sand. 

When thirst overtook Hagar and Ishmael they 
were near some bushes, but could not find a well. 
Hagar felt that she could not bear to see her son die. 
So she left him under the bushes, in as shady a spot 
as she could find, and went off, the Bible says, u as 
it were a bowshot," or as far as an arrow might fly 
from a bow. And she sat down and began to weep 
and to cry aloud. 

Grod heard her voice, and he heard Ishmael's 
also, and He called to Hagar out of heaven : " What 
aileth thee, Hagar ? Fear not, for Grod hath heard 
the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the 



HAGAE, THE EGYPTIAN. 21 

lad, and hold him in thine hand ; for I will make 
him a great nation." 

It was not God's purpose to let Ishmael die, for 
as Abraham had been promised already, Ishmael 
was to live and to be the father of a mighty people. 
And God opened Hagar's eyes, and she saw a well 
of water, and she went and filled her skin and carried 
• water to Ishmael. We do not know whether God 
wrought a miracle and made a well, where there was 
none before, or whether there was one there all the 
time, and it was his will that Hagar should not see 
it until it was shown her. 

This time Hagar did not go back to Sarah. She 
and Ishmael stayed in the wilderness. Hagar was 
no longer alone and helpless. Ishmael grew strong 
and tall and he became an archer. In those days 
there were no guns, and people shot with bows and 
arrows. They fought with lances and spears in 
close fights, but an arrow could go farther than either 
spear or lance. 

Cities were far apart, and there was a great deal 
of land which belonged to nobody. Poor people in 
the cities were slaves to the rich, and had to do just 
what they told them. Their lives and the little that 
they had was at the mercy of the king and his ser- 
vants, and there was no law to protect them. When 
a man wanted to be free, and was strong enough to 
protect himself against wild beasts and robbers, he 
went to the wilderness, as Robin Hood did many 
years later. Even rich men often preferred the life 



22 



HAGAR, THE EGYPTIAN. 



in the wilderness, where they and their families 
were subject to no one. 

When Ishmael became a man, his mother took 
him a wife out of Egypt, her old country. He had 
twelve sons, each one a prince, and one daughter. 
Hagar was very happy in her grandchildren. 

The great nation that was founded by Ishmael 
was the Arabian, and his descendants occupy Arabia 
to this day, as well as Turkey in Asia and in 
Europe. 




Rebekah, the Chosen of God. 



The Lord shall guide thee continually. — Isaiah Iviii, 11 



And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, be- 
hold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, 
the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her pitcher on her 
shoulder. And the damsel was very fair to look upon. 

— Genesis xxiv, 15-16. 



Amidst undying things, 

The mind still keeps your loveliness, and still 

All the fresh glories of the early world 

Hang round you in the spirit's pictured halls 

Never to change. 

— Felicia Hemans. 




Chapter n 
RgBEKAHTHE CHOSEN 

ofGqd. 

HILD-NATURE 

is pretty much 
the same every- 
where and al- 
ways. Chinese 
girls speak a dif- 
ferent language 
from American girls and they 
wear different clothes, but they 
nurse and dress dolls and play 
house, just as though their skins 
were white instead of yellow, and 
: v\ their eyes round instead of almond- 
shaped. Chinese boys fly kites 
and spin tops and shoulder toy guns. They live on 
the opposite side of this great world of ours, and use 
chop -sticks instead of forks, and wear funny little 
pig -tails, but boy hearts are theirs all the same. 
Even the children of long ago were not very differ- 
ent from those of to-day. 

Thousands of years ago lived a little girl named 
Rebekah. Her home was in Mesopotamia in Asia. 




25 



26 REBEKAH, THE CHOSEN OF GOD. 

She was Abraham's grand-niece — that is, Abraham 
was her grandfather's brother. Before the Lord 
called Abraham to follow Him and become the 
founder of a great people, he and Rebekah's 
grandfather, Nahor, lived in Ur in the land of 
Chaldea. From Ur, Abraham went to live in 
Canaan, and Nahor moved to Mesopotamia. Nahor 
founded a city which was named after him, the city 
of Nahor, and there he and his sons lived. 

Rebekah was the daughter of the youngest of 
these sons,Bethuel, and she had one brother, Laban. 
She was a beautiful girl with long black hair and 
lovely dark eyes ; her skin was very fair, the hot sun 
and the desert winds did not tan or roughen it. It 
was not because she stayed in -doors all the time that 
she was fair, for she used to go every day to the well 
to draw water. This seems to have been her es- 
pecial task, although her father was a rich man and 
he had many servants. Rebekah was not brought 
up in idleness. Probably, like all other little girls, 
she loved to play. She must have had a doll, for 
even thousands of years ago there were doll -babies, 
and of course she played house. Laban was older 
than she, but he was a kind brother and he must 
have encouraged her in pranks and fun. But Re- 
bekah had many things to learn. Prom playing 
house she was promoted to real house -keeping. She 
was taught to sew and to cook, to spin and to weave, 
to take care of the milk and to draw water. Hagar 
was a slave when she learned these things, but 
Rebekah was the daughter of a great man and she 



KEBEKAH, THE CHOSEN OF GOD 27 

learned them also. Then, as now, it was necessary 
for all girls to know how to keep house. Some girls 
do not think it worth while to spend time over sew- 
ing and cooking, dusting and mending, because they 
have people to do such things for them, but they are 
not wise. There comes a time when nearly every 
woman has to wait on herself and others, but should 
such a time never come, it is well to know how 
household tasks should be performed. No mistress 
can direct a servant properly without understanding 
the work to be done. The present Queen of Eng- 
land, the beautiful and gracious Alexandra, used, 
when a girl, to make her own dresses and trim her 
bonnets, and all of Queen Victoria's daughters 
learned to sew and to cook. The Empress of Ger- 
many is a notable housewife, and it is said that 
Emperor William is proud of her fruit jelly. 

Household tasks were much harder and more 
numerous even a hundred years ago than they are 
now. Our great -grandmothers had to spin their 
own yarn and to weave their own cloth. A hundred 
years ago there were no matches, there was no gas, 
there were no ranges and no sewing machines. 
Most of the world's wonderful labor-saving machin- 
ery has been invented in this country. Rebekah, 
thousands of years ago, probably did not have to 
work so hard as our great -grandmothers did, for in 
those days living was much more simple than it grew 
to be as time went on. Yet she had to grind the 
grain for her bread and to go outside of the city for 
her water. Not only was there no water piped into 



28 REBEKAH, THE CHOSEN OF GOD. 

the houses, as it is in cities now -a -days, but there 
were no pumps or wells in the yards as there are in 
the country. Every evening the girls of the place 
went to the well outside of the city and at it they 
filled their pitchers. 

Rebekah grew tall and straight and strong 
from her daily exercise, and the skillful carrying of 
her heavy pitcher made her graceful and supple. 
By the time she was twelve or fourteen years old she 
was remarkably attractive, but it was not only her 
face and her form that were beautiful. She grew 
up courteous, obliging, affectionate and obedient. 
So she was truly lovely. A pretty face may not fall 
to the lot of every girl, but all may acquire beautiful 
characters. 

Far away in Canaan, Abraham did not forget 
his relatives. One day he called his chief servant, 
Eliezer , to him and said : ' ' Thou shalt go unto my 
country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto 
my son Isaac." 

But Eliezer did not think that a girl would be 
willing to leave her own country and journey to a 
strange land to marry Isaac. And he told Abra- 
ham so. 

But Abraham had an answer ready. 

u The Lord Grod of heaven which took me from 
my father's house, and from the land of my kindred, 
and which spake unto me and sware unto me, say- 
ing 'Unto thy seed will I give this land,' He shall 
send His angel before thee and thou shalt take a 
a wife unto my son from thence." 



REBEKAH, THE CHOSEN OF GOD. 29 

Abraham was sure that God would help Eliezer 
in his choice, for from Isaac and his wife were to be 
descended the great Hebrew nation. It was im- 
portant that Isaac should have a good wife. Alone, 
Abraham might not have made the best choice, but 
he was content to leave it to God. Abraham had 
long ago chosen to obey God in everything, and God 
took care of him all through his long life. 

' Blest was the choice that Abraham made, 
When he the voice of God obeyed, 

And left his kindred dear. 
What though he knew not where he went, 
And passed his days within a tent, 

He knew that God was near. 

' k And when he saw the heathen round, 
Beneath each tree, upon each mound, 

Before their idols bend, 
Could he enough his love express, 
For him who promised still to bless, 

And chose him for His friend ? 

" The friend of God! The angels fair 
No sweeter name than this could bear, 

However high their state; 
Yet may a creature made of clay, 
Who will the Lord's commands obey, 

Obtain this honor great." 

Eliezer was an important man. Abraham was 
so old that he needed some one to look after his 
property, — his flocks and his herds, his slaves and 
his gold and whatever else he had. And Eliezer 
did this. He was Abraham's steward, for that is 
what a man who manages the affairs of another is 
called. 

The steward made his preparations for the jour- 



30 REBEKAH, THE CHOSEN. OF GOD. 

ney without troubling his master. He took ten 
camels and a band of men and set out, carrying with 
him beautiful presents for Abraham's relatives. 
Camels seem especially made for traveling across 
deserts, and are used to carry both people and goods. 
They are sometimes called the ships of the desert. 
They can go a long time without eating and drink- 
ing. Each hump is a store of fat from which the 
camel can draw when it needs food. On a journey 
the owner of the animal generally feeds it very lit- 
tle, often only a few beans or dates, and not those if 
there are any shrubs on which it can browse. As 
for water, the camel has two stomachs, and in one 
of these, which is called the honeycomb bag, are 
great masses of cells which store up water and keep 
it for a long time. When pressed by thirst Arabs 
sometime kill a camel for the sake of the water in 
this bag. A camel has keen sight and smell, and 
can discern water at a great distance. Its eyes are 
furnished with long eyelashes to protect them from 
the glare of the burning sun, and it can close its 
nostrils at will to keep out the drifting sand. Its 
feet have thick soles which protect them from the 
hot sands over which they have to travel, and there 
are also tough places on the chest and the joints of 
the legs, useful when the patient beasts kneel to re- 
ceive their loads. A camel can carry twice as heavy 
a load as a mule; its motion is jolting and disagree - 
ble to those who are not used to it. 

Eliezer and his camels and his men crossed the 
desert and came to the city of Nahor. How he found 



BEBEKAH, THE CHOSEN OF GOD. 31 

a wife for Isaac is simply and beautifully told in the 
twenty -fourth chapter of Genesis . 

"And he made his camels to kneel down with- 
out the city by a well of water at the time of the 
evening that women go out to draw water. And he 
said, ' O Lord God of my master Abraham, I pray 
Thee send me good speed this day and show kindness 
unto my master Abraham. Behold I stand here at 
the well of water ; and the daughters of the men of 
the city come out to draw water ; and let it come to 
pass that the damsel to whom I shall say "Let down 
thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink;" and she 
shall say, " Drink, and I will give thy camels drink 
also:" let the same be appointed for thy servant 
Isaac; and thereby shall I know that Thou hast 
shewed kindness unto my master.' 

"And it came to pass before he had done speak- 
ing, that, behold, Rebekah came out with her pitcher 
upon her shoulder. And the damsel was very fair 
to look upon ; and she went down to the well, and 
filled her pitcher, and came up. And the servant 
ran to meet her, and said, ' Let me, I pray thee, 
drink a little water of thy pitcher.' And she said, 
'Drink, my lord:' and she hasted, and let down 
her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink. 
And when she had done giving him drink, she said, 
4 1 will draw water for thy camels also, until they 
have done drinking.' And she hasted, and 
emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again 
unto the well to draw water, and drew for all his 
camels." 



32 EEBEKAH, THE CHOSEN OF GOD. 

The steward was delighted with her ; she was 
so beautful and so gracious and kind. He stood ad- 
miring her while she drew the water and wondered 
whether she was really the girl meant for Isaac's 
wife. As soon as the camels were through drinking, 
he gave Rebekah a lovely gold ear-ring and two 
heavy gold bracelets, and he asked: "Whose 
daughter art thou? tell me, I pray thee: is there 
room in thy father's house for us to lodge in?" 

Rebekah replied that she was the daughter of 
Bethuel, the son of Nahor and his wife, Milcah. 
Also, she said that her father had plenty of room 
and plenty of food for the stranger's camels and his 
men. 

Eliezer was over-joyed, and he bowed down his 
head and thanked the Lord who had led him straight 
to the home of Abraham's own people. 

Rebekah ran home and told her mother and her 
brother what had happened, and she showed them 
the ear-ring and the bracelets. Then Laban went 
to the well, and there he found the steward waiting 
with his camels. 

And Laban said: "Come, thou blessed of the 
Lord; wherefore standest thou without? for I have 
prepared the house, and room for the camels." 

And Eliezer went home with Laban, gladly, and 
his camels were unharnessed and fed, and he and all 
his men were given water with which to wash their 
feet. Then food was set before the men, but the 
steward would not eat until he had told his errand. 

"I am Abraham's servant," he said, u and the 




REBEKAH AT THE WELL 



REBEKAH, THE CHOSEN OF GOD. 35 

Lord hath blessed my master greatly; and he is be- 
come great; and He hath given him flocks, and 
herds, and silver, and gold, and men servants, and 
maid servants, and camels, and asses." 

Then he went on to tell how the Lord had given 
Abraham and Sarah a son in their old age, and how 
that son, Isaac, was to inherit everything that Abra- 
ham had ; and how Abraham had made him swear 
that he would seek a wife for Isaac in Abraham's 
old home, among his relatives, and how he had found 
Rebekah at the well, and that he believed that the 
Lord had showed him Rebekah in answer to prayer. 

Bethuel and Laban listened attentively to the 
steward's story, and when it was finished they said : 
" The thing proceedeth from the Lord: we cannot 
speak unto thee bad or good. Behold Rebekah is be- 
fore thee, take her and go, and let her be thy 
master's son's wife." 

When Abraham's servant heard their words, 
he bowed down to the ground and thanked God. 
And he unpacked jewels of gold and jewels of silver 
and beautiful clothing, and gave them to Rebekah 
as presents from Abraham and Isaac, and to her 
mother and to Laban also, he gave precious things. 
Then they all ate and drank, and Eliezer and his 
men stayed all night at the house of Bethuel. 

In the morning the steward was impatient to be 
off. "Send me away unto my master," he said. 

But Rebekah' s mother and brother wanted to 
put off parting with her. 

Let the girl stay with us a few days, at the 



u 



36 REBEKAH, THE CHOSEN OF GOD. 

least ten," they said, " after that she shall go." 

" Hinder me not," said Eliezer, "seeing the 
Lord hath prospered my way ; send me away that I 
may go to my master." 

" We will call Rebekah and ask her," said the 
mother. 

So the girl was called. " Wilt thou go with 
this man," she was asked. 

And she said, "I will go." 

So Rebekah and her nurse and her servants 
went away with Abraham's steward and his men. 
They all rode upon camels and journeyed for nearly 
two weeks. 

Rebekah had never been away from home be- 
fore, and she enjoyed the strange sights that met 
her view. She would have been lonely if it had not 
been for her good old nurse, Deborah, who had been 
with her ever since she was a baby. 

By and by, they drew near Isaac's home. It 
was late in the afternoon, and Isaac was walking 
in the field, thinking about the steward's journey 
and the wife that he was to bring. And he lifted 
up his eyes and saw the camels approaching. Re- 
bekah saw him and she said to the steward, "What 
man is this that walketh in the field to meet us?" 

"It is my master, Isaac," answered Eliezer. 

Then Rebekah felt shy, for she knew that it 
was Isaac who was to be her husband. And she 
drew her veil over her face and alighted from the 
camel. 

In eastern countries women generally wear veils 



REBEKAH, THE CHOSEN OF GOD. 



37 



which cover their faces. Little girls put them on 
when they get to be about twelve years old, and 
after that have to wear them whenever they go out 
doors. It is evident that the rule about veil -wearing 
was not strict in Rebekah's day, for she had ridden 
unveiled until she saw Isaac. 

Isaac hastened to meet Rebekah, and he took 
her into the tent which had been his mother's. 
Since his mother's death he had been lonely, but 
Rebekah became his wife, and he loved her, and 
was comforted. 




I 



The Two Sisters, Leah and Rachel. 



The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. — Psalm xxiii, 1. 



And Laban had two daughters : the name of the elder was 
Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. — Genesis xxix y 16. 



" Jesus says that we must love him; 
Helpless as the lambs are we; 
But He very kindly tells us, 
That our Shepherd He will be. 

Heavenly Shepherd, please to watch us, 
Guard us both by night and day; 
Pity show to little children, 
Who like lambs too often stray . 

We are always prone to wander, 
Please to keep us from each snare; 
Teach our infant hearts to praise Thee 
For Thy kindness and Thy care." 



Two sisters, dwelling under one roof, loving and beloved, 
careless of the future, which in its beauty and freshness, like an 
unclouded morning just opening upon them, gives no hint of the 
darkness which may gather, or the tempests which may lower 
before the day is done; — such are Leah and Rachel, when on the 
sacred page they are first presented to our view . 

— Mrs. S. G. Ashton. 



Chapter III 

The two sisters Leah 

and Rachel 

IN course of time Isaac and 
Rebekah had two sons, 
Esau and Jacob. They were 
twins, but they were not at 
all alike. Esau was rough 
and hairy, while Jacob 
was smooth -skined and 
and they were even more 

Esau was 




o> 



fair, 

unlike in disposition, 
wild and lawless, caring little for 
the hopes and feelings of others, 
fond of hunting and of out -door 
life, while Jacob was quiet and 
gentle, spending most of his time 
around the tents, taking care of the 
flocks and the herds, and even helping with house- 
hold tasks. Rebekah loved Jacob better than she 
did Esau, but Isaac was fonder of Esau. 

When Isaac was old and blind, Jacob covered 
himself with hairy skins so that his neck and his 
arms would feel like Esau's, and he deceived Isaac 
so that he got the promises and the blessing that 



41 



42 THE TWO SISTERS, LEAH AND RACHEL. 

were meant for Esau. The blessing was a sacred 
thing, once given it could not be taken back. 

Esau was very angry, and he said: "After my 
father is dead, I will slay my brother, Jacob." 

Then Rebekah sent for Jacob and bade him flee, 
telling him to go to her brother, Laban. But Jacob 
could not go without his father's permission. So 
Rebekah advised Isaac to send Jacob to her brother's 
country, there to get a wife. And Isaac did so. He 
called Jacob, and blessed him again, and sent him 
to the land from which Rebekah had come. 

Laban had two daughters, Leah and Rachel. 
Leah was the older; her eyes were weak and she 
was not nearly so pretty as Rachel. 

Laban had a great many sheep and Rachel helped 
take care of them. Her name means "a sheep." 

Rebekah must have known just where Jacob 
would find her brother and his family, for Jacob in- 
stead of going to the city in which Rebekah had lived, 
went to some pasture land quite far from the city. 

"And he looked, and beheld a well in the field, 
and lo, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it; 
for out of that well they watered the flocks ; and a 
great stone was upon the well's mouth. And thither 
were all the flocks gathered." 

Jacob said to the shepherds, "Do you know 
Laban the grandson of Nahor?" 

" Yes," they said, "we do." 

And Jacob asked, " Is he well?" 

And the shepherds answered, u He is well; and 
here comes his daughter, Rachel, with the sheep." 




RACHEL 



i 



THE TWO SISTERS, LEAH AND RACHEL. 45 

Jacob was glad to hear this, for Rachel was his 
cousin. He looked up and saw her approaching, and 
he thought that he had never seen anyone so lovely. 
He ran to meet her and kissed her, weeping for joy. 

The shepherds had been waiting for Rachel and 
her flock to come before they watered the sheep. The 
well was locked and Rachel brought the key. Jacob 
ran to the well and rolled away the stone. Rachel 
eyed him shyly. She did not know who he was 
until he told her; then she went for her father, leav- 
ing her sheep with Jacob. 

Laban was very glad to hear of Jacob's arrival. 
He hastened to the well to greet him, and welcomed 
him cordially, and took him home with him. And 
Jacob told his uncle what had happened in the long 
years that had passed since Rebekah went away to 
be Isaac's wife. He told him about himself and his 
brother, Esau. He must have felt ashamed when 
he recounted how he had cheated Esau out of his 
father's blessing, and that he had run away from 
home on that account. 

Jacob stayed with Laban as a visitor for a 
month, and during that time he helped with the 
flocks, and made himself as useful as he could. At 
the end of the month Laban offered to pay Jacob for 
his work. 

" I will serve thee seven years for Rachel, thy 
younger daughter," said Jacob, for he had fallen in 
love with Rachel at first sight, and after a month in 
the family found her lovelier than ever. His father 
had sent him to Laban 's house to get a wife. Surely, 
he could do no better than to marry Rachel. 

In those days men had to give presents to the 



46 THE TWO SISTERS, LEAH AND RACHEL. 

fathers of the girls whom they married. Jacob pro- 
posed to give seven years of his life for Rachel. 
Laban was very fond of Rachel, and he did not wish 
her to marry at all, but he said to Jacob, "It is bet- 
ter that I give her to thee, than that I should give 
her to another man; stay with me." 

At that time Rachel may have been only a little 
girl, much too young to marry. Extreme youth is a 
fault that time soon remedies. In seven years 
Rachel changed from ten or eleven to seventeen or 
eighteen years of age, growing more beautiful all the 
time. Like Rebekah, she had a fair skin and long 
dark hair and eyes and a fine straight figure. After 
events show that she was jealous, high -tempered, 
haughty, and petulant, but she must have been kind 
to Jacob, for the Bible says, "Jacob served seven 
years for Rachel ; and they seemed unto him but a 
few days, for the love he had to her." 

He took good care of the sheep ; often he had to 
sit up with them at night to keep away wild beasts, 
for sometimes he took them far from home in search 
of fresh pasturage, and out on the plains there were 
lions, wolves, panthers and bears. Sometimes 
shepherds had hand-to-hand encounters with 
hungry beasts who tried to steal a fat meal. In the 
book of Samuel we read of David's killing a lion 
and a bear. He tells of it himself. He is only a 
boy, but he has made up his mind to try to slay the 
Philistine giant Groliath, who is terrorizing the 
armies of Israel. 

Says he to King Saul: " Thy servant kept his 
father's sheep, and there came a lion and a bear, 
and took a lamb out of the flock : and I went out 



THE TWO SISTERS, LEAH AND RACHEL. 47 

after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his 
mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him 
by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. Thy 
servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this 
Philistine shall be as one of them. The Lord that 
delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of 
the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the 
hand of this Philistine." 

And Saul said unto David, " Go, and the Lord 
be with thee." 

And the Lord was with David and with His 
help he slew the great Philistine giant. 

A shepherd life was a fine thing for making men 
and boys hardy and strong. Fresh air and exercise 
it furnished in abundance. Jacob must have never 
known what it was to be ill, although the days were 
hot and the nights were cold, and he got but little 
sleep. 

At the end of the seven years, Jacob demanded 
Rachel of Laban. Laban made a great wedding 
feast, but instead of Rachel, Leah was the bride. 
Both Rachel and Leah loved Jacob, and perhaps 
Leah, who had never been asked for in marriage, 
hoped that after she was Jacob's wife he might love 
her as he had loved Rachel. In the east brides are 
veiled so that their faces cannot be seen, and not 
until after the wedding was over did Jacob know 
that Laban had given him Leah instead of Rachel. 
Then he was angry. 

" What is this that thou hast done to me," he 
said to his uncle . ' 4 Did I not serve thee for Rachel . ' ' 

Then Laban began to excuse himself, saying 
that in that country it was not the custom for a 



48 



THE TWO SISTERS, LEAH AND RACHEL. 



younger sister to be married before an older. How- 
ever, lie said, if Jacob would serve him yet another 
seven years he might marry Rachel as well as Leah. 

Jacob agreed, and for seven more years he took 
care of Laban's flocks. He must have remembered 
how he had cheated Esau, and perhaps he took it as 
a just punishment that he himself should have been 
deceived. 

Rachel was veiled and she, as well as her sister, 
became Jacob's wife . Jacob was kind to Leah, but he 
always loved Rachel far more than he did her sister. 

A man may not have two wives now, but in 
those far-away days he might have two, or even 
more than two. 

God blessed Leah with many children, but 
Rachel had only two. One of Rachel's sons was 
Joseph, who became a very great man. 

6^ «fc*" 




Miriam, The Good Sister. 



If God be for us, who can be against us? — Romans viii, 31. 



And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to 
him. — Exodus II, Iv. 

Great deeds cannot die; 

They, with the sun and moon, renew their light 

Forever, blessing those that look on them. 

— Tennyson. 



THE SONG OF MIRIAM. 

A song for Israel's God! — Spear, crest, and helm. 

Lay by the billows of the old Red Sea, 

When Miriam's voice oe'r that sepulchral realm 

Sent on the blast a hymn of Jubilee; 

With her lit eye, and long hair floating free, 

Queen-like she stood, and glorious was the strain, 

E'en as instinct, with the tempestuous glee 

Of the dark waters, tossing o'er the slain. 

A song for God's own victory! — O, thy lays, 

Bright Poesy! were holy in their birth; — 

How hath it died, thy seraph note of praise, 

In the bewildering melodies of earth! 

Return from troubling bitter founts — return, 

Back to the life-springs of thy native urn! 

— Felicia Hemans. 



Chapter IV 

Mn$H the good Sister 



«j\ JAWPIRIAM, who is per- 

I i^ / JH|j haps the most famous 

Nkwl of Bible girls ' was 

I ^111/ I the daughter of Am - 

I I ^^ ran, a prince of the 

J|L JHL ^ r ^ e °^ ^evi, an( i 

the sister of Moses, 
the great law -giver, and of Aaron, his 
older brother. She was born in the 
land of Goshen in Egypt, where the 
Israelites had then dwelt for many 
years. 

God had promised the land of 
Canaan to the children of Abraham, 
Isaac and Jocob; that is to their great, great-grand- 
children. Jacob was given another name by God; 
it was Israel. His sons were called the children of 
Israel, and that came to be the name of their child- 
ren and of their children's children. Grown-up men 
and women, and boys, and girls, and little babies, they 
were all called the children of Israel, or the Israelites. 
It was in the time of Joseph that the Children 
of Israel were invited to Egypt. There were not 




51 



52 MIBIAM, THE GOOD SISTEE. 

many of them then, and it was the king, himself, 
who asked them to come. Joseph was the son of 
Jacob and Rachel. He was carried into Egypt when 
he was quite a boy. At first he was a slave and a 
prisoner, but he pleased the king and became a great 
man. He saved the whole land of Egypt, at the 
time of a famine, when there would have been 
nothing to eat, had it not been for Joseph. For 
seven years a great deal of corn and other grain 
grew, then for seven years none grew at all. During 
the seven years of plenty, Joseph, who had been 
warned by God, saved food enough to last all through 
the seven years of famine, and during that time he 
fed the people, and made much money for the king 
by selling corn to their starving neighbors. People 
came from hundreds of miles away to buy bread in 
Egypt, for the famine was in all the land. 

The king was so grateful that he urged Joseph 
to send for his father and his brothers, and their 
wives and children, all to come and live in Egypt. 
They came, and the king gave them a beautiful and 
fertile part of the country for their own. They not 
only brought their families, but their flocks, and 
their herds, and all of their belongings. The land 
that the king gave them pleased them so much that 
they settled there and did not go away. 

Joseph lived to be an old man, but at last he 
died. And the king, his friend, died also. But Grod 
blessed the children of Israel and they grew rich. 
They had many children and grandchildren, and 
their children and grandchildren, each had many 



MIRIAM, THE GOOD SISTER. 53 

children and grandchildren, until there was a vast 
number of them. 

By and by there came to the throne a king who 
knew nothing about Joseph. He had either never 
heard or had forgotten how much Joseph had done 
for the Egyptians. So he asked himself what all 
these foreign people were doing in his country. He 
saw that they were peaceable and quiet, but he was 
afraid that they might change. If they wanted to 
raise an army they could get together a large and 
powerful one, he thought. Then everything began 
to be different for the Israelites. The king could 
have things his own way, and instead of treating 
them kindly, he used them as slaves. 

The Egyptians were great builders. They built 
mighty palaces and magnificent tombs, which endure 
to this day, and grand monuments in memory of 
the battles that they won. They needed many slaves 
to do all this work, for it was heavy and severe. 
When they took prisoners in their wars they set them 
to building, and generally the poor captives did not 
live long. Such hard work in the burning sun used 
them up, for it is very hot in Egypt. Every few 
years it was necessary to put new men in the places 
of those that had been working and had died. The 
king did not care how many died so long as their 
work was done. 

Here was a way of killing off the Israelites, 
thought Pharaoh, the king. So he set task mas- 
ters over them, and made them build whole cities. 
But the work did not seem to hurt them : the more 



54 MIRIAM, THE GOOD SISTER. 

cruelly they were treated, the more they grew in 
numbers and in strength. 

Then they were made to serve in the brick- 
yards and in the fields, as well as on the public 
works, and wherever they served they were given 
the hardest tasks and the longest hours. But still 
they increased and, strangest of all, more boys were 
born than girls. 

Then the king told the nurses of the Israelite 
babies to kill all the little boys as soon as they came 
into the world. But the nurses were good women 
and would not do so dreadful a thing. 

When Pharaoh found that the nurses hid the boy 
babies, he told the Israelites themselves that they 
must throw into the river every son that was born to 
them, but that they might save the girls. He was 
not afraid of the girls, only the boys could become 
soldiers. 

Miriam was quite a little girl when Moses was 
born, but she was very clever. Hebrew tradition 
says that she foretold that he would do wonderful 
things for his people. We know that after he was 
grown she was a prophet, or one who foretold what 
was going to happen, and it may be that she was 
able to see into the future, as soon as she could talk. 

She begged her mother and her father not to 
throw the dear little baby into the river, where fierce 
crocodiles and deadly serpents might eat him. You 
can imagine that Jochebed felt even worse than 
Miriam. She just could not throw her beautiful 
baby into the water, either to drown or to be 




MIRIAM AND THE INFANT MOSES 



MIBIAM> THE GOOD SISTEB. §7 

eaten alive. For three months she hid him, but he 
grew fast and his cries become stronger. Every 
time that he cried Jochebed trembled lest the king's 
spies should come and take him away, and the whole 
family be killed as well as the baby. Miriam was 
a careful little nurse, and she helped her mother. 
When Jochebed went out, as she had to do some- 
times, it was she who took care of the boy. Per- 
haps they dressed him as a girl and called him by a 
girl's name so that no one would know that there 
was a boy -baby in the house. Yet they might have 
been found out at any time. 

At last Jochebed felt that she could hide the 
little one no longer. He was large and beautiful, 
and her heart ached over him when she felt that she 
must take him to the river. Miriam was not so 
troubled as her mother ; she felt that God meant the 
baby to live and to grow to be a wonderful man, the 
saviour of his people. I think it was she who sug- 
gested to Jochebed what to do with the child. Close 
by the river there grew bulrushes and reeds which 
were like very high, thick grass. They took some of 
these and made a covered basket, plaiting them to- 
gether so that it was light and strong, shaping it like 
a boat. It could float, too, like a boat, but it was 
not waterproof. So they daubed it with pitch until 
it was snug and tight. Then they lined it with soft 
fleecy things, making a nest for the tiny man. 

Miriam did not cry when her baby brother was 
put in his little ark or boat. She watched her mother 
cover him carefully, leaving a place for him to 



58 MIRIAM, THE GOOD SISTER. 

breathe, and listened reverently to her prayer, as 
she confided him to the care of God. Then she fol- 
lowed Jochebed to the water's edge and saw her put 
the basket on the brink of the river, where it was 
almost hidden by tall grasses and bulrushes. This 
was not the place where the Israelite babies were 
thrown, but a quiet spot overshadowed by the 
king's palace. 

Jochebed went away. Her heart was sore, and 
she prayed to God to save the baby. Miriam ling- 
ered to see what would happen. Perhaps she 
thought an angel would come down from heaven to 
care for the little boy, perhaps she did not know 
exactly what to expect, only that he would be saved. 

And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to the 
river to bathe, as was her habit. There were no 
crocodiles here, and the water was clear and cool. 
She was as beautiful as the noon -day sun and was 
dressed in purple and in gold. Her lovely plaited 
hair hung down her back, except one large lock 
braided with gold, which fell from her left temple 
to her waist. This lock was a sign of her royal 
birth. Her crown was a ring of gold with a horned 
serpent in front, shining with rubies. She was 
cooled and shaded by waving fans carried by lovely 
maidens who attended her to the bath. As they 
drew near the water's edge, Miriam shrank back 
behind the rushes. 

The princess and the maidens walked by the 
river side. Presently, Pharaoh's daughter spied 
the basket in which the baby lay quietly asleep. 



MIRIAM, THE GOOD SISTER 59 

Her curiosity was aroused, and she wondered what 
the strange object might be. Her maidens saw it 
also, but they waited for their mistress to speak. 

"Bring that basket here that I may open it," she 
said to one of them. 

The girl who ran to do her bidding found the 
load rather heavy. The princess bent over the little 
ark. Still the baby made no sound. But when the 
cover was removed he began to cry. Perhaps he 
was hungry after his nap, perhaps the strange faces 
frightened him, or maybe the hot sun hurt his eyes. 
Anyway, he wrinkled up his little face and wept. 
It was the best thing that he could have done. The 
lovely princess was tender-hearted, and she felt 
sorry for the tiny waif. 

"This is one of the Hebrews' children" she 
said, and she felt perplexed, for she longed to save 
the child, and did not know what was the best thing 
to do with him. 

Now was Miriam's chance. She came forward 
respectfully, and stood looking at the pretty baby, 
until Pharaoh's daughter noticed her. 

"Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the 
Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for 
thee?" That is what the wise little sister said. 

And Pharaoh's daughter said to her "go." 

And whom do you think Miriam called? The 
baby's own mother. 

Jochebed did not have to be told twice what 
was wanted. She hastened to the river side, and 
Miriam explained as they went along what had hap- 



60 MIRIAM, THE GOOD SISTER 

pened. Their hearts sang with happiness. Gfc>d 
had answered their prayers. 

And Pharaoh's daughter looked at Jochebed and 
liked her. She seemed kind and motherly, and the 
child was content in her arms. 

"Take this child away, and nurse it for me," 
said the princess, " and I will give thee thy wages." 

The mother took the baby to his own home, and 
she was paid for taking care of him just as though 
he had been a stranger. But he was her own little 
son. How happy she and Miriam were. 

The child grew and he did not need a nurse any 
longer. Then Jochebed was obliged to take him to 
the palace to the princess. She was sorry to part 
with him, but she knew that Pharaoh's daughter 
could do more for the boy than she. He was good 
looking and quick, and he pleased the princess. She 
took him to be her son. And she called him Moses, 
4 • because, ' ' she said, ' ' I drew him out of the water. ' ' 
That is what Moses means, drawn out of the water. 

Moses was given wise teachers, and he learned 
all the wisdom of the Egyptians. Probably he did 
not see Miriam at all while he was growing up. He 
and she lived very different lives, but each of them 
studied and got ready for the things that were to 
come. 

When Moses grew to be a man the Egyptians 
were very proud of him. He invented engines and 
instruments of war, he wrote learned books, and 
taught the people many things that they did not 
know before. It is said that he drove the serpents 



MIRIAM, THE GOOD SISTER 61 

out of the land, as St. Patrick did out of Ireland 
long afterward. The Egyptians forgot that Moses 
was an Israelite or a Hebrew, for was he not the son 
of Pharaoh's daughter? But Moses did not forget it. 
He longed to help his oppressed people. When he 
saw them badly treated, his blood boiled, and his 
heart was hot within him. At last one day when 
he was watching the Hebrews at work, he saw an 
unjust Egyptian taskmaster strike down one of 
them. Moses looked all around and as there seemed 
to be no one else in sight, killed the wicked Egypt- 
ian and buried his body in the sand. He thought 
no one knew what he had done, but the very next 
day showed that it was known. Two Hebrews were 
quarreling together and Moses tried to stop them. But 
one of the men answered boldly : ' 4 Who made thee 
a prince and a judge over us? Dost then intend to 
kill me as thou didst kill the Egyptian?" 

Then Moses was afraid, for if this man knew 
about the killing, some one else might know, also. 
In time Pharaoh heard of it and he sought to take 
Moses' life in punishment. But Moses ran away 
from Egypt into the land of Midian. Here he was 
treated kindly. and he stayed until after the king of 
Egypt died. 

The new Pharaoh was harder than ever on the 
Israelites, and they prayed to Grod to save them. And 
God heard them and was sorry for them. He chose 
Moses to be their saviour, as Miriam had foretold 
that he would. 

Moses was watching his flocks when the Angel 



62 MIRIAM, THE GOOD SISTER 

of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of 
the midst of a bush. Moses looked at the bush and 
saw that it was afire ; yet it did not burn. He was 
astonished and said: U I will now turn aside and 
see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt." 

So he went toward the burning bush, but God 
called unto him out of the midst of the bush : 
"Moses, Moses." 

And he said, "Here am L" 

And God said, "Put off thy shoes from off thy 
feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy 
ground." 

And Moses took off his shoes and did not dare 
go nearer for God was in the bush. 

Then God said: "I am the God of thy father, 
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God 
of Jacob." And Moses hid his face, for he was 
afraid to look. 

And the Lord said that he had heard the cries 
of his people, the children of Israel, and that he had 
pity on them. He was going to lead them out of 
the land of Egypt to a good and large land, a land 
flowing with milk and honey, the land of Canaan. 

" Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto 
Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people, 
the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt." 

But Moses was afraid. He said, u Who am I, 
that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should 
bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt." 

Then God said. "I will be with thee." 

And He was with Moses * and He did such won- 



MIRIAM, THE GOOD SISTER 63 

derful things that Pharaoh was afraid not to let the 
Israelites go. Grod sent ten terrible plagues upon 
Egypt. 

And the first plague was this : all the water was 
turned into blood, so that the fish in the rivers died, 
and the Egyptians had no water to wash with, nor 
to drink. But Pharaoh would not let the people go. 

And the second plague was this : a host of frogs 
came up from the river and filled the houses, even 
the bed -rooms and the kitchens, the beds, and the 
ovens, and the kneeding -troughs in which the bread 
was made. Still Pharaoh would not let the Israel- 
ites go. 

And the third plague was this : all the dust in 
the land of Egypt turned into lice, tiny insects 
which covered man and beast. But Pharaoh's heart 
was hard; he would not let the people go. 

And the fourth plague was this : great swarms 
of flies came and got into everything so that nothing 
was clean, because of the flies. Yet Pharaoh would 
not let the people go. 

And fifth plague was this: all the cattle, the 
horses, the asses, the camels, the oxen and the sheep 
of the Egyptians sickened with a dreadful disease, 
but the cattle of the Israelites did not sicken, neither 
did they die. None of these plagues came to the 
children of Israel. Yet Pharaoh would not let 
them go. 

And the sixth plague was this : boils came upon 
all the Egyptians and upon their beasts. Still Phar 
raoh would not let the people go. 



64 MIRIAM, THE GOOD SISTER 



u 



And the seventh plague was one of hail and fire. 
And the hail smote throughout all the land of 
Egypt," says the bible, "all. that was in the field, 
both man and beast ; and the hail smote every herb 
of the field and brake every tree of the field. Only 
in the land of Groshen where the children of Israel 
were, was there no hail." 

And Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and 
said, "I have sinned this time ; the Lord is righteous, 
and I and my people are wicked. Entreat the Lord 
(for it is enough) that there be no more mighty 
thunderings and hail ; and I will let you go, and ye 
shall stay no longer." 

So Moses lifted up his hands and prayed to the 
Lord, and the thunder and the hail stopped. But 
Pharaoh did not do as he had promised, he would 
not let the people go. 

And the eighth plague was this : locusts went 
up over all the land of Egypt, and they covered the 
face of the whole earth so that it was darkened ; and 
they ate every green thing that the hail had left, so 
that there did not remain a single green thing either 
in the fields or on the trees, not a leaf nor a blade of 
grass. And Pharaoh begged Moses to take away 
this plague ; and the Lord sent a mighty wind which 
blew away all the locusts and buried them in the 
sea. Yet Pharaoh would not let the people go. 

And the ninth plague was this : for three days 
there was a thick darkness in the land of Egypt so 
that no one could see, only the children of Israel 
had light in their houses. But Pharaoh would not 
let them go. 



MIRIAM, THE GOOD SISTER 65 

Then came the most dreadful plague of all. In 
every house the Lord caused the eldest son to die, 
from the first born of Pharaoh to the first born of 
the lowliest maidservant, but He passed by the 
homes of the Israelites and slew not one. 

Then all the Egyptians rose in terror in the 
middle of the night and, from king to slave, they 
begged and prayed the Israelites to go. The Israel- 
ites were all ready, for GTod had told Moses what 
would happen and Moses had warned them to eat 
their suppers and to be all ready to start at a mo- 
ment's notice. Miriam was a leader among the 
women, and we may be sure that she was busy 
enough in preparing for the journey and in urging 
others to do so. The Egyptians were willing to do 
anything to get rid of the Israelites and to hasten 
their going, so they gave them whatever they asked 
for. They loaded them with gold and silver and 
costly clothing. They fairly thrust them out of 
Egypt, so that the}^ left with their bread unrisen and 
unbaked, carrying their dough in their kneeding- 
troughs. But when Pharaoh found that the Israel- 
ites had really gone, he was sorry and said " Why 
have we let Israel go from serving us?" 

He thought of the immense amount of work 
that these people had done for him, and of the work 
that there was yet to be done, and he determined to 
force them to come back. So he ordered his chariot 
or war carriage and the chariots of his captains — all 
the chariots of Egypt he ordered, and he set cap- 
tains over every one of them. And they pursued 



66 MIRIAM, THE GOOD SISTER 

the Israelites, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, 
and his horsemen, and his army, and they overtook 
them where they had camped for the night on the 
shores of the Red Sea. 

And as the great army of the King drew near, 
the Israelites became frightened, and cried out to the 
Lord for help. And they said to Moses, reproaching 
him, u Are there no graves in Egypt that thou hast 
taken us away to die in the wilderness? It would 
be better for us to serve the Egyptians than to be 
killed here." 

"Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation 
of the Lord, which He will show to you to-day," 
answered Moses. He was not afraid. "For the 
Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see 
them again no more for ever. The Lord shall fight 
for you, and ye shall hold your peace." 

Then Grod told Moses tc tell the Israelites to go 
forward over the the sea. There was no bridge and 
the waters are wide and deep, they were even deeper 
then than they are to-day when great ships sail over 
them — carrying hundreds of passengers. 

Moses lifted up his rod and stretched out his 
hand over the sea and the waters were divided, rol- 
ling back on either side until they formed a high 
wall on the right and one on the left. Between 
these walls of water the ground was perfectly dry, 
and the Children of Israel walked across the bed of 



MIRIAM, THE GOOD SISTER 67 

the sea without wetting even the soles of their feet. 
The waters on either side must have looked terrible, 
but the Israelites knew that God had them in His 
care, and they were no longer afraid. Men, women 
and little children, with all their cattle, went across 
fearlessly and safely. 

The Egyptians, already terrified by the wonders 
God had wrought to free his chosen people, hesitated 
on the brink. They did not dare to follow until 
their leaders commanded them to do so and they 
knew that they must chose between one death or the 
other. Possibly they might escape the waters, they 
could not escape from Pharaoh's wrath. 

Although it was night, God had made the way 
as light as day for His people, but He sent a thick 
cloud to bewilder the Egyptians. Their chariot 
wheels became entangled, or sank heavily in the 
sand, and their horses could scarcely pull the loads. 
Those behind pressed against those in front, for the 
drivers could not see where to go. Their state was 
awful. Plunging into the sea -bed came horses, 
chariots, riders and men on foot, and in the midst 
of the confusion Moses stretched out his hand again 
and the waters came crashing together, burying the 
whole army, so that not one man nor horse was left. 

So God saved the Israelites from out of the 
hands of the Egyptians and punished Pharaoh and 
his hosts. 



68 



MIRIAM, THE GOOD SISTER. 



The Children of Israel sang and danced for joy, 
praising the Lord. First Moses led them in song, 
singing : 

"I will sing unto the Lord, for He has triumphed groriously: 

The horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea. 
The Lord is my strength and my song, and He is become 
my salvation: 
He is my God, and I will prepare Him an habitation; 
my father's God and I will exalt him." 

This and much more they sang. Then Miriam 
took a timbrel or a tamborine in her hand and all 
the women followed her with their timbrels and 
they sang and danced, answering the men : 

"Sing ye to the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously; 
The horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea." 




Achsah, The Daughter of Caleb 



Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. — 
Isaiah Iv, 1. 

And Caleb said, he that smiteth Kirjath-Sepher, and taketh 
it, to him I will give Achsah, my daughter, to wife. — Judges 1,12. 



There is a land of pure delight 
Where saints immortal reign; 
Infinite day excludes the night, 
And pleasures banish pain. 

There everlasting spring abides, 
And never- withering flowers; 
Death, like a narrow sea, divides 
This heavenly land from ours. 

m 

Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood 
Stand dressed in living green; 
So, to the Jews, old Canaan stood, 
While Jordan rolled between." 



Chapter V 
AcJiSAH,T/IE DAUGHTER. 

of Caleb- 




C H S A H was born in 
the wilderness 
during the wand- 
erings of the chil- 
dren of Israel. 
Her father, Caleb, 
was a wonderful 
man, and in order to under- 
stand Achsah's story it is 
necessary to know Caleb. 

After the Israelites had 
entered Canaan, the prom- 
ised land, they had to fight the heathen people who 
lived there, and kill them or drive them away, be- 
fore they could take possession. God was with 
them and He helped them or they could never have 
won their battles. 

Hebron was a very fertile part of Canaan, in 
which there were fine springs and beautiful vine- 

71 



72 ACHSAH, THE DAUGHTEB OF CALEB 

yards. Joshua, the commander of the Israelites, 
gave Hebron to Caleb, the father of Achsah, because 
God had promised it to him and his children, forty 
years before the children of Israel entered Canaan. 
It happend in this way. When God first brought 
the children of Israel near Canaan, they were afraid 
to march into it before they knew what sort of a 
place it was, and what kind of people lived in it ; so 
God allowed them to send twelve men to examine 
the land and to bring back an account of what they 
found there. These men were spies. They spent 
forty days looking at Canaan ; they saw fields and 
walled towns ; hills and brooks ; they learned every- 
thing that they could about the land, and at last 
they returned to the children of Israel, carrying fine 
figs and beautiful pomegranates, and a bunch of grapes 
so large that it took two men to bear it. They told 
the Israelites that Canaan was indeed a fertile land, 
one full of milk and honey and fruit, but that the 
people who lived in it where too strong for them to 
conquer. All of the spies said this but two, Caleb 
and Joshua. They were good men, but the other 
ten were wicked, for they did not trust in God, who 
had promised to give Canaan to the Israelites. 

Caleb and Joshua said boldly, "Let us go up 
at once, and possess the land; we are well able to 
overcome it." 

"We are not able to go up against the people," 
said the other men, "for they are stronger then we. 
Some of them, are giants, by the side of whom we 
felt no larger than grasshoppers." 



ACHSAH, THE DAUGHTER OF CALEB 73 

The foolish children of Israel paid no attention 
to Joshua and to Caleb, nor did they remember God's 
promises; they listened to the timid spies and 
trembled with fear. They cried all- night, saying, 
"Would to God we had died in Egypt! or would to 
God we had died in the wilderness ! Why has the 
Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword? 
We and our wives and our children shall all be 
killed." 

They never thought of praying to God who had 
over and over again saved them from perishing, to 
God who had so wonderfully brought them across the 
Red Sea and through the desert. Instead, they said, 
" Let us go back to Egypt," and, because they knew 
that Moses would not lead them back to Egypt, they 
planned to make another man captain over them. 

Moses and Aaron were grieved to see the peo- 
ple so wicked. They fell on their faces and prayed. 

Then up spoke Joshua and Caleb, saying, "We 
have seen the land; it is an exceedingly beautiful 
and good land, and God will give it to us. Fear 
not, the Lord is with us and not with the people of 
Canaan." 

The children of Israel were so unreasonable 
that they were going to stone Joshua and Caleb to 
death, but the glory of the Lord shone so brightly 
into their camp that they knew that He was angry 
with them and they were afraid. 

Then Moses prayed to God to pardon the people. 

And God did pardon them, but He punished 
them also. For forty years they were obliged to 



74 ACHSAH, THE DAUGHTEK OF CALEB 

stay in the wilderness, and all of them but Joshua 
and Caleb died in it. It was their children who 
entered Canaan, children who became men and 
women during the long years that the Israelites 
wandered in the wilderness. Even Moses died; he 
had been a good man, and he was buried by God, so 
that no man knew the place of his grave. 

"This was the bravest warrior 
That ever buckled sword ; 
This the most gifted poet 
That ever breathed a word ; 
And never earth's philosopher 
Traced with his golden pen 
On the deathless page truths half so sage 
As he wrote down for men. 

And had he not high honor? — 

The hillside for a pall ! 

To lie in state while angels wait, 

With stars for tapers tall ! 

And the dark rock-pines, like tossing plumes, 

Over his bier to wave, 

And God's own hand in that lonely land, 

To lay him in his grave! " 

Joshua led the Israelites into Canaan. The 
mighty deeds that he accomplished with the Lord's 
help are told in the book of Joshua, which is named 
after him. 

Caleb was forty years old when he entered 
Canaan with the spies, and he was eighty-five when 
Hebron was given to him. Yet he said to Joshua, 




ACHSAH, THE DAUGHTER OP CALEB 



ACHSAH, THE DAUGHTEE OF CALEB 77 

' ' I am as strong this day as I was in the day that 
Moses sent me ; as my strength was then, even so is 
my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to 
come in." 

Caleb had his reward because he believed in the 
Lord and his promises. Heaven is called the prom- 
ised land, just as Canaan was. A happy home, 
there, is promised to those who believe on the Lord 
Jesus Christ. Only those who believe will reach 
heaven. Those who do not believe will never get 
there. 

The following beautiful prayer is by Frances 
Ridley Havergal : 



Thy Kingdom Come. 
God of Heaven ! hear our singing ! 

Only little ones are we, 
yet a great petition bringing, 

Father, now we come to Thee. 

Let Thy kingdom come, we pray Thee, 
Let the world in Thee find rest; 

Let all know Thee, and obey Thee, 
Loving, praising, blessing, blessed. 

Let the sweet and joyful story 

Of the Saviour's wondrous love, 

Wake on earth a song of glory, 
Like the angels 7 song above. 

Father, send the glorious hour, 
Every heart be Thine alone! 

For the kingdom, and the power, 
And the glory are Thine owu. 



78 ACHSAH, THE DAUGHTER OF CALEB 

AchsaJi must have been very proud of her 
father. Out of all the hosts of Israel only he and 
Joshua had been chosen to enter Canaan with the 
younger generation. Caleb and Joshua must have 
been the only old men among the Israelites, and 
their white hairs were a crown of glory to them. 

Before taking possession of Hebron, Caleb had 
to drive away some of the very race of giants that, 
forty years before, had frightened the spies. They 
were called the sons of Anak, and they were large 
and strong, but Caleb overcame them. 

Then he offered his daughter Achsah in mar- 
riage to whoever should conquer the inhabitants of 
the city of Debir or Kirjath-Sepher, as it had been 
called. 

Achsah was beautiful and young, and she had a 
great many suitors. Caleb loved her dearly and he 
wished her to have a brave husband. It required a 
great deal of courage to go out to fight giants and 
Caleb could be sure that none but a brave man would 
try to take Debir. 

Othniel, the son of Kenaz, was a man of great 
valor, about forty years of age, strong and fine look- 
ing, and he loved Achsah so dearly that he felt that 
he could dare more than the taking of Debir for her 
sake. So Othniel, whose name means the u Lion of 
God," went against the giants and he captured their 
city and killed them. Caleb was delighted, and he 
gladly kept his promise. Achsah and Othniel were 
married, and Caleb gave them besides Debir, a beau- 
tiful and fertile tract of south land for their home. 



ACHSAH, THE DAUGHTEK OF CALEB 



79 



They were happy, but they wanted something that 
they did not have. Near them were fine springs of 
water but they did not have any for their own. 
Caleb was a kind father, so Achsah mounted her ass 
and rode to him. When she saw him she alighted 
and asked for his blessing. 

"What wilt thou, my daughter?" he asked. 

Then Achsah told him how grateful she and 
Othniel were for the field that he had given them, 
but that they needed a spring, that there were fine 
ones near their home, and that they would be glad 
to have one for their own. 

Caleb must have been happy to be able to grant 
her request, for he gave her more than she asked 
for, both upper springs and lower springs. 

So it is with the heavenly Father, He gives us 
greater things than we ask for. 

Jesus is called the Water of Life. Just as our 
bodies cannot live without water, so our souls can- 
not live without Jesus. The heavenly Father says, 
u Let him that is athirst come. And whosoever 
will, let him take of the Water of Life freely." 




Jephthah's Daughter. 



Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacri- 
fices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is 
better than sacrifice. — 1 Samuel xxv, 22. 



There is something solemn and awful in the thought that 
there is not an act done, or a word uttered by a human being, 
but carries with it a train of consequences the end of which we 
may never trace. — Samuel Smiles. 




Chapter VI 
EPflTflAtf S DAUGHTER 



MONG the children 
of Israel was 
a man named 
Jephthah. He 
was brave and 
strong and a good 
soldier, but his 
brothers drove him away from his 
home, which was in Gilead, and 
he went to live in the land of 
Tob. Other homeless men gath- 
ered around Jephthah, until he was 
the leader of a daring band. 

The Ammonites, who were 
cruel and fierce and crafty, got the 
mastery over the Israelites. God allowed this be- 
cause the Israelites had been sinning and needed 
punishment; they had forgotten God, and wor- 
shipped idols of wood and of stone, like the wicked 
heathen nations around them. At last they put 
away their idols and prayed to God again, and He 
pitied their sufferings. 

And the Ammonites gathered together, and 

83 




84 



jepiIthah's daughter 



camped in the land of Gilead. The children of 
Israel raised an army and camped at Mizpeh, but 
they had no captain. Said they ; ' ' Who is the man 
that will lead us against the Ammonites? He shall 
be ruler over all the people of Gilead." 

But no one offered to be captain, so at last the 
elders or chief men thought of the brave Jephthah 
and went to fetch him out of the land of Tob. 

"Come and be our captain," said the elders to 
Jephthah, "that we may fight againstthe Ammonites.'' 

"Did you not hate me and drive me away? why 
then do you come to me now when you are in dis- 
tress?" answered Jephthah. 

None of them had stood up for him and made it 
easier for him when his brothers had turned him out 
of their home, but now that they were in trouble the 
men of Gilead expected him to help them. 

But the elders would not be turned away ; the 
fame of Jephthah as a fighter and as the leader of 
his daring band had spread through the land, and 
they were sure that he was the very man that they 
needed to lead them against the Ammonites. 

Jephthah asked them whether, if he went with 
them and fought the Ammonites and the Lord gave 
him the victory, they would really make him ruler 
over all the people. And they swore solemnly 
before God that they would. 

Then Jephthah went with them, and he became 
their captain. 

Jephthah had only one child, a young and beau- 
tiful daughter, and he was very fond of her. She 



jephthah's DAUGHTER 85 

felt proud and happy when the elders made her 
father captain over the army. Probably she thought 
there was no one so fine looking as he, when he had 
his armour on, and she watched him out of sight as 
he led his gallant band away. 

And Jephthah sent messages to ask the king of 
the Ammonites why he had come to fight against 
the Israelites. 

u Because the Israelites took away my land 
when they came up out of Egypt," replied the king 
of the Ammonites. "Now, therefore, restore my 
land peaceably." 

But Jephthah replied that the land which the 
Israelites had taken was given them by the Lord, and 
that they meant to keep it with His help. He said 
that the children of Israel had done no wrong to the 
Ammonites but that the Ammonites did wrong to 
the Israelites in making war against them. 

But the king of the Ammonites did not pay any 
attention to what Jephthah's messengers said, and 
Jephthah prepared to fight the Ammonites. Before 
the battle he made a vow or a promise to the Lord. 

"Then it shall be," said he, "that whatsoever 
cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, 
when I return in peace from the children of Amnion, 
shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up as a 
burnt offering." 

He meant that should the Lord give him the 
victory he would sacrifice as a burnt offering what- 
ever should come out of his door to meet him on his 
return home. It was wrong to make such a promise 



86 JEPHTHAH's DAUGHTER 

for lie could not tell beforehand what would come 
to meet him; yet he meant to do right. 

In those days men offered sacrifices to God. If 
any man was sorry for his sins, he might bring a 
goat or a sheep or an ox to the priests and they 
would burn it for him on the altar. God was 
pleased with the offering and forgave the man's sins. 
This was because the innocent animal was meant 
to represent Jesus, the Saviour, who was coming a 
long time afterward, to die for men and women and 
little children that their sins might be forgiven. 

There were also thank offerings. Jephthah 
meant to make a thank offering, if God gave him 
a victory over the Ammonites. 

And the Lord was with Jephthah so that he won 
a great victory over the Ammonites. And the chil- 
dren of Israel were free. It was not because of 
Jephthah' s rash vow that the Ammonites were over- 
come, but because God intended the Israelites to be 
released from their enemies now that they had re- 
pented of their sins. 

After the battle Jephthah returned to his home 
in Mizpeh with great joy, thankful and elated be- 
cause of the victory. The news of his success 
reached his people before he did, and his daughter 
prepared to celebrate his triumph. She gathered 
her maidens together and they watched for the com- 
ing of her father and his men. 

Jephthah's daughter saw him first and through 
the door she led her maidens, dancing and singing 
a song of rejoicing and praise. Alas, what she had 




JEPHTHAHS DAUGHTER 



JEPHTHAH'S DAUGHTER 89 

planned as a glad surprise for her father was a fear- 
ful blow. His bronzed face grew pale, and he trem- 
bled as he had never trembled before. He put out 
his hands as though to push her away, and the girl, 
awed by his manner, hushed her song and waited 
for him to speak. 

■" Alas, my daughter thou hast brought me very 
low, and thou art one of them that trouble me ; for 
I have opened my mouth unto the Lord and I cannot 
go back." Then he told her of his promise to the 
Lord. 

Jephthah's daughter was as brave as her father. 
She answered promptly, "My father, if thou hast 
made a vow unto the Lord, thou must do with me 
even as thou hast promised." 

But Jephthah ought to have known better than 
to keep such a wicked promise. It could not be 
binding. Heathen people offered their children to 
idols and the Lord punished them for it. "Thou 
shalt do no murder," said God, but Jephthah had 
lived among the heathen and he had seen children 
sacrificed to their gods. He forgot the Lord's com- 
mandment, and asked himself whether he should be 
willing to do less for the true God than the heathen 
were ready to do for their idols. He tore his clothes 
with grief and cried aloud, for he loved his only 
child, but he prepared to sacrifice her. 

Some people think that a promise should be 
kept under all circumstances. -"A promise is a 
promise," say they, as though all promises, good or 
bad, rash or well-considered, were equally binding. 



90 JEPHTHAH'S DAU0HTER 

A promise is a solemn thing; therefore you 
should think well before you give your word. Once 
given, a promise should be kept, if possible. But 
if, after the promise has been given, you find that 
in order to keep it you will have to do wrong, the 
promise should be broken. You must ask forgive- 
ness for having been hasty or having made a wrong 
promise, and stop right there, not letting one wrong 
be an excuse for more. 

A promise should never be lightly made. It is 
only by being careful about this that you can have 
people say of you, "His word is as good as his bond." 

Jephthah's daughter asked for two months in 
which to prepare for death, and they were granted 
her. She and her maidens went to a lonely place 
in the mountains and wept and prayed until the 
time was gone. 

As human sacrifices were not permitted among 
the Israelites, Jephthah's daughter could not have 
been put to death on the great altar by the priests, 
and her father must have offered her up with his 
own hand. For this reason some wise men think 
that she was not killed at all, but that she was 
given to God alive — that she never married, and 
spent her life in doing good works, nursing the sick, 
caring for the dying and the dead, and in praying. 

The women of Israel did not forget her but each 
year for many years to come they sorrowed four 
days over her fate. 



jephthah's DAUGHTER 91 

In his 4 ' Dream of Fair Women,' ' Lord Tennyson 
has given us some beautiful verses about Jephthah's 
daughter. 



' ' I heard 
A noise of some one coming throu' the lawn, 
And singing clearer than the crested bird, 
That claps his wings at dawn. 

"The torrent brooks of hallow'd Israel 
From craggy hollows pouring, late and soon, 
Sound all night long, in falling thro' the dell 
Far-heard beneath the moon. 

"The balmy moon of blessed Israel 
Floods all the deep-blue gloom with beams divine ; 
All night the splinter' d crags that wall the dell 
With spires of silver shine. 

"As one that museth where the broaa sunshine laves 
The lawn of some cathedral thro' the door 
Hearing the holy organ rolling waves 
Of sound on roof and floor 

"Within, and anthem sung, is charm'd and tied 
To where he stands, — so stood I when that flow 
Of music left the lips of her that died 
To save her father's vow. 



92 JEPHTHAH'S DAUGHTER 

"The daughter of the warrior Gileadite, 
A maiden pure; as when she went along 
From Mizpeh's tower' d gate with welcome light, 
With timbrel and with song. 



"My words leapt forth: 'Heaven heads the count of crimes 
With that wild oath.' She render'd answer high : 
'Not so, nor once alone; a thousand times 
I would be born and die. 



"Single I grew, like some green plant, whose root 
Creeps to the garden water-pipes beneath, 
Feeding the flower; but ere my flower to fruit 
Changed, I was ripe for death. 



"My God, my land, my father, — these did move 
Me from my bliss of life, that Nature gave, 
Lower'd softly with a threefold cord of love 
Down to a silent srave 



'And I went mourning, 'No fair Hebrew boy 
Shall smile away my maiden blame among 
The Hebrew mothers' — emptied of all joy, 
Leaving the dance and song. 



JEPHTHAH'S DAUGHTER 93 



'Leaving the olive-gardens far below, 
Leaving the promise of my bridal bower, 
The valleys of grape-loaded vines that glow 
Beneath the battled tower. , 



'The light white cloud swam over us. Anon 
We heard the lion roaring from his den; 
We saw the large white stars rise one by one, 
Or, from the darken 'd glen. 



'Saw God divide the night with flying flame, 
And thunder on the everlasting hills. 
I heard Him, for He spake, and grief became 
A solemn scorn of ills. 



'When the next moon was roll'd into the sky, 
Strength came to me that equall'd my desire. 
How beautiful a thing it was to die 
For God and for my sire ! 



'It comforts me in this one thought to dwell, 
That I subdued me to my father's will; 
Because the kiss he gave me, ere I fell, 
Sweetens the spirit still. 



94 



jephthah's daughter 



Moreover it is written that my race 
Hew'd Ammon, hip and thigh, from Aroer 
On Arnon unto Minneth.' Here her face 
Glow'd as I looked at her. 



"She lock'd her lips; she left me where I stood; 
'Glory to God', she sang, and passed afar, 
Threading the sombre boskage of the wood, 
Toward the morning-star.' ' 




Ruth, The Gleaner 



The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the ever- 
lasting arms. — Deuteronomy xxxiii, 27. 



"Insist not on me forsaking thee, 
To return from following thee; 
For whither thou goest, I will go; 
And wheresoever thou lodgest, I will lodge; 
Thy people is my people, 
And thy God my God ; 
Wheresoever thou diest, I will die, 
And there will I be buried. 
So may Yahveh do to me, 
And still more, 
If aught but death part thee and me." 



The plume-like swaying of the auburn corn, 
By soft winds to a dreamy motion fann'd, 
Still brings me back thine image — Oh ! forlorn, 
Yet not forsaken Ruth ! — I see thee stand 
Lone 'midst the gladness of 'the harvest band 
Lone as a wood-bird on the ocean's foam, 
Fall'n in its weariness. Thy father-land 
Smiles far away! yet to the sense of home, 
That finest, purest, which can recognize 
Home in affection's glance, forever true 
Beats thy calm heart; and if thy gentle eyes 
Gleam tremulous through tears, 't is not to rue 
Those words, immortal in their deep love's tone, 
"Thy people and thy God shall be mine own! " — 

Felicia Hemans. 



Chapter YE 



Rjjth the Gleaner^ 

^ HERE lived in the 
city of Bethlehem, in 
Canaan, a man named 
Elemelich with his wife 
and two sons. The wife 
was called Naomi, and 
the sons were Mahlon 
and Chilion. 

And there was a famine in 
Canaan. Elemelich and his 
family suffered so much that 
they decided to go to the land 
of Moab to stay for awhile, hop- 

V"^T" ing to be better off there. But 

(/ Elemelich was not strong, and 

before long he died. Naomi was left alone to bring 
up her two sons. 

In the land of Moab there was a dear little girl 
named Ruth. She became very fond of Naomi, who 
taught her about the God of Israel. The Moabites 
were heathen and worshipped idols, and they did 
many cruel things because they thought that these 
pleased their gods. Affectionate and tender-hearted 




97 



9 8 RUTH, THE GLEANER 

Ruth could find nothing beautiful in the religion of 
her people, and she listened gladly to the instruction 
of Naomi. Perhaps she gave heart to the true Grod 
when she was quite a child, for she became such a 
good and lovely woman that she must have been 
a good and lovely little girl. u As the twig is bent, 
the tree is inclined." 

The name Ruth means "a friend," and Ruth 
was true to her name. She was a faithful friend to 
Naomi, as her story shows. 

Did you ever stop to think about the meaning 
of your name? 

Is it Sarah? Sarah means " princess," and she 
who is called Sarah ought to be too noble to do any- 
thing mean, if she wishes to live up to it. Agnes 
means "pure " ; that is a beautiful name to live up 
to. Jesus says, " Blessed are the pure in heart for 
they shall see God." Cora, Margaret, and Rachel 
teach purity also, for Cora and Margaret mean "a 
pearl," and Rachel means " a sheep or a lamb " and 
these are emblems of purity. 

Hannah means "gracious, merciful," and so 
does Anna. Susanna and Hadassah mean u joy," 
and Naomi is "pleasant, agreeable." 

A girl who is called Deborah ought to be indus- 
trious, for her name means "abee," and one named 
Phoebe should be a veritable sun -beam for that is 
"shining, bright." 

Naomi's sons grew up and married in the land 
of Moab. One married a girl named Orpah, and the 
other married Ruth. But Mahlon and Chilion did 



RUTH, THE GLEANER 99 

not live long, soon they both died, and Naomi was 
in a strange land with only her daughters-in-law to 
comfort her. 

Naomi, longed to return to her own people, and 
as she heard that the famine in Canaan was over, 
she determined to do so. Ruth and Orpah did not 
wish to part with her, for they had learned to love 
her, and they insisted that they would go with her on 
her journey, even though they had to leave their 
own people. But Naomi felt that it would be selfish 
to take them away from the land in which they had 
been born, and in which all their relatives lived. 

"Go back, each of you, to her mother's house," 
she said, "and I pray the Lord to deal kindly with 
you, for you have been good to my sons, who are 
now dead, and to me." 

Orpah and Ruth were troubled at this and they 
wept. Soon Orpah kissed Naomi and left her, but 
Ruth would not go. 

"Entreat me not to leave thee," saidRuth, "or to 
return from following after thee ; where thou goest, 
I will go; and where thou livest I will live; thy 
friends shall be my friends and thy God my God; 
where thou diest, I will die, and there will I be 
buried." 

Naomi could not help being pleased at this for 
she was lonely, and she loved Ruth dearly. So she 
said no more, but let Ruth go with her to Bethlehem. 

If Ruth had stayed in Moab she would have 
been unknown in the history of the world. As it is, 
she became famous ; one of the books of the Bible is 



100 KUTH, THE GLEANEE 

named after her, and she was the great -grandmother 
of King David, and from her was descended Jesus 
Christ. 

Instead of choosing to worship idols, she chose 
to follow the true God, and instead of staying in an 
idolatrous land, she went to Bethlehem. Bethlehem 
is only a small place, but there is no town whose 
name is better known. Near it Rachel died and was 
buried, and there still stands her tomb, near it David 
watched hik father's flocks, and within its walls was 
born the Christ child, while hosts of angels sang 
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, 
good will toward men." 

Ruth knew nothing of the wonderful things 
that were to happen. She followed Naomi because 
she loved her, and she served the God of Israel be- 
cause He, only, was the true God. 

" Because right is right, to follow right 
Were wisdom in the scorn of consequence," 

says Lord Tennyson. We must do right because it 
is right, and leave the future to God. 

" If only we strive to be pure and true, 
To each of us there will come an hour 
When the tree of light shall burst into flower, 
And rain at our feet a glorious dower 
Of something grander than ever we knew. 77 

.The journey of Naomi and Ruth neared its end ; 
weary and travel -worn they came to Bethlehem. 
The people had not forgotten Naomi, but she was 
so changed that they hardly knew her. and they said, 
"Is that Naomi?" 




RUTH, THE GLEANER 



RUTH, THE GLEANER 103 

Poor Naomi thought of how she had gone away 
with a kind husband and two sons, and she felt sor- 
rowful because they were with her no more. 

"Call me not Naomi, which means pleasant," 
she said, "but call me Mara, which means bitter, 
for the Lord has sent me great trouble; He has 
dealt very bitterly with me." 

It was at the beginning of the barley harvest 
that Naomi and Ruth came to Bethlehem. They 
looked around to find a way to live, for they were 
poor. Ruth was ready and willing to work for both 
herself and her mother-in-law. It was the custom, 
during the harvest, for poor people to follow after 
the reapers and to gather up the grain that they 
dropped. The reapers let some grain fall on pur- 
pose for the gleaners, for God had told them not to 
take all away, but to leave a little for the poor. 

And Ruth asked Naomi to give her permission 
to go into the fields to glean. And Naomi said "Gro, 
my daughter." 

It happened that Ruth went to the field of a rich 
kinsman or a relation of Naomi's. His name was 
Boaz, and he was a great man. And Boaz came to 
his field to watch the reapers. 

"The Lord be with you," said Boaz to his men. 

And they answered him, "The Lord bless thee." 

Presently, Boaz caught sight of Ruth, who was 
gleaning industriously. She was beautiful and gen- 
tle and dignified, and he had never seen another 
gleaner like her. 



104 RUTH, THE .GLEANER 

44 Who is that young woman!" he asked his 
chief rervant. 

u It is the young woman from Moab who came 
home with Naomi," answered the man. "She said, 
'I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reap- 
ers among the sheaves,' and we allowed her to do 
it, and she has been in the field from early morning 
until now." 

Boaz had heard of Ruth, and how kind she was 
to her mother-in-law, and that she had left a 
heathen land to come to live in Canaan among 
strange people, in order that she might worship the 
(rod of Israel. And he felt kindly disposed toward 
her. He told his men to treat her well and consid- 
erately, and he spoke to her himself, telling her that 
she might glean every day in his field. He said that 
he had told his young men not to do her any harm 
but, when she was thirsty to let her drink from the 
pitchers that they had filled for the workers in 
the field. 

Ruth was surprised and grateful, and she bowed 
herself down to the ground before Boaz, as is the 
custom in the east. 

u Why have I found grace in thine eyes," she 
asked, "that thou should'st be so kind to me when 
I am a stranger?" 

Then Boaz told her that he had heard her story 
and he added : 

u The Lord recompense thy work, and a full 
reward be given thee of the Lord Grod of Israel, 
under whose wings thou art come to trust. 



">•> 



RUTH, THE GLEANER 105 

And he told her to come at meal -time and to 
eat and drink with his laborers. Ruth did so, and 
Boaz, himself, saw that she got plenty to eat and 
to drink. 

After the meal, she gleaned again, and Boaz 
told the men to let fall some handfuls on purpose 
for her. So she went home with so much barley 
that Naomi was surprised and asked Ruth in whose 
field she had been gleaning. 

"The man's name is Boaz/' answered Ruth, 
and she told her happy story to Naomi. 

Then Naomi answered, "Blessed be the Lord," 
and told Ruth, what she had not known before, that 
Boaz was a near kinsman. Ruth said that he had 
said that she might come every day and glean 
after his reapers, until the end of the barley harvest 
and of the wheat harvest, and Naomi told her to do 
as he had said. 

So the days went by; Ruth gleaned in the fields 
of Boaz, and his laborers were kind to her, and she 
ate and drank with them. When evening came, she 
threshed her gatherings and took the grain home to 
Naomi, who was well content. 

At last the reaping and the binding were over, 
and it was time for Boaz to thresh and to winnow 
his grain. This was done on a level, smooth and 
hard piece of ground called the threshing floor. 
First the grain was separated from the long straws 
on which it had grown. This was done with a flail, 
a wooden instrument with which it was beaten from 
the ears. This was called threshing. Then bits of 



106 



RUTH, THE GLEANER 



straw and chaff had to be separated from the grain. 
The reapers threw the grain up in the air, while the 
wind was blowing, and the wind blew away all the 
pieces of straw and chaff because they were light, 
but the grain, being heavy, fell in heaps on the hard 
floor. This was called winnowing. Such work is 
done by machinery now-a-days, and it is done much 
more quickly and thoroughly than it was in the 
days of Boaz. 

In hot countries as much labor as possible is 
done at night or early morning before the sun has 
risen. The sun's rays are so strong as to make it 
wise to avoid them in the heat of the day. In many 
southern cities it is almost as quiet at mid -day as at 
mid -night, for every one who can sleeps for two or 
three hours, while the sun is at its highest, and the 
streets are practically deserted. 

One day Naomi heard that Boaz was going to 
winnow his barley that night. Besides coolness, 
there was another advantage in choosing the even- 
ing for his work ; the wind was generally stronger 
at night than in the day, as it rose toward evening. 

When the psalmist wrote that u the ungodly are 
like the chaff which the wind driveth away," he was 
thinking of winnowing. 

Naomi told Ruth to wash and dress herself and 
go to Boaz and say to him just what she told her to 
say. Ruth did what Naomi wished; she got ready 
and went to the threshing floor and waited for a 
chance to speak to Boaz. After the grain was win- 
nowed Boaz had a feast, but, by and by, the guests 



RUTH, THE GLEANER 107 

went away and he was alone. Then Ruth drew 
near and asked him to be kind to her for she and 
Naomi were alone and he was a near kinsman of 
their 

Boaz answered, "The Lord bless thee, my 
daughter, fear not ; I will do for thee all that thou 
needest, for the whole city of Bethlehem doth know 
that thou art a good woman." 

Then Boaz filled her veil, which was as large as 
a shawl, with six measures of the newly winnowed 
barley and she took it home to Naomi. Naomi was 
grateful, but she was sure that Boaz meant to do 
more than that for Ruth. So she told her to be 
patient and to wait and see what else he would do. 

The cities of Canaan had walls around them 
and in the walls there were gates through which the 
people went in and out. At these gates were the 
market-places where things were bought and sold 
and, there also the rulers held court. If a man 
wished to tell all the people of his town anything, 
he went to the gates to do it, for that was the place 
at which to hear and to tell news for there more 
people were gathered together then anywhere else. 

The day after Boaz winnowed his wheat he 
went to the gates and sat down on one of the stone 
benches that were there, and he called the elders or 
the chief men to him. Other people gathered around 
to hear what he had to say. He told the elders and 
all the people that he was going to marry Ruth, the 
beautiful and good Moabitess who had come to Beth 



108 



RUTH, THE GLEANER 



lehem with Naomi. Said he to the elders and to 
all the people, u Ye are the witnesses." 

And the elders and all the people answered, 
"We are the witnesses." And they prayed to God 
to grant to Boaz and to Ruth the richest blessings. 

So Ruth became the wife of Boaz, and she and 
Boaz were very happy. Naomi was happy, also, 
for she loved Ruth and she rejoiced in her good for- 
tune. The Lord gave Boaz and Ruth a son and they 
called him Obed. The women of Bethlehem con- 
gratulated Naomi on her grandson, but they told her 
that her daughter-in-law, Ruth, was better than 
seven sons. They could have paid Ruth no greater 
compliment for the Hebrew women desired sons 
above all blessings. 




The Little Captive Maid 



Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be 
pure, and whether it be right. — Proverbs xx, 11. 



And the Syrians had gone out by companies, and had 
brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid ; and 
she waited on Naaman's wife. — II Kings v, 2. 



There is an eastern fable of a boy having challenged his 
teacher to prove the existence of God by working a miracle. The 
teacher, who was a priest, got a large vessel filled with earth, 
wherein he deposited a kernel in the boy's presence, and bade 
him pay attention. In the place were the kernel was put a green 
shoot suddenly appeared, the shoot became a stem, the stem put 
forth leaves and branches which soon spread over the whole 
apartment. It then budded with blossoms, which, dropping off, 
left golden fruits in their place, and in the space of one hour 
there stood a noble tree in the place of the little seed. The 
youth, overcome with amazement, exclaimed, "Now I know that 
there is a God, for I have seen his power!" The priest smiled at 
him, and said, "Simple child, do you only now believe? Does not 
what you have just beheld take place year after year, only by a 
slower process? But is it less marvelous on that account?" 

— Krummacher. 



Chapter VIH 

TheLittleCapttveMaidi 



HEN Jehoram was 
king of Israel, 
there lived in the 
neighboring coun- 
try of Syria a great 
man called Naa- 
man, who was cap- 
tain of the army of Syria. Naa- 
man was a favorite with his mas- 
ter, Benhadad, the king of Syria, 
for he had gone to war with his 
enemies, and had gained the vic- 
tory over them. Benhadad show- 
ered gifts and honors on Naaman, 
but Naaman was unhappy, never- 
theless, for he had a dreadful dis- 
ease, leprosy. This disease, which 
turns a person's skin as white as snow, is not un- 
common in hot countries, but it is so terrible 
that no one will have anything to do with a leper, 
if he can help it, for fear of catching his dis- 
ease. Leprosy may begin in one spot on the body, 
but it spreads all over and, by and by, it is so 




in 



112 THE LITTLE CAPTIVE MAID 

horrible that the leper may lose his fingers or his 
toes by their dropping off. Naaman could not have 
had a worse disease. Probably it had not gone so 
far that he could not keep the knowledge of it in his 
family and his household, but he must have dreaded 
the time when he would have to resign his honors 
and leave his people and go off to live by himself. 

Among the servants in Naaman's household was 
a little maid from the land of Israel. The Israelites 
had been wicked, and God had allowed their ene- 
mies to conquer them in war, and to carry off some 
of them into foreign lands, where they had to be 
servants and slaves. This little girl was not wicked, 
however ; it was for the sins of others that she had 
to suffer. That is a sad thing about wrong -doing, 
often the innocent have to suffer with the guilty. 

We do not know whether this little maid had 
been rich or poor in her own land, whether she was 
stolen away from her parents or whether they as 
well as she were brought to Syria, but she found a 
good home with Naaman 's wife, on whom she 
waited. She grew fond of her mistress and of her 
master, and she felt very sorry for Naaman when 
she heard of his terrible disease. She was a thought- 
ful little girl, and she remembered the things she 
had seen and heard in her own land. 

There was a great prophet in Israel named Eli- 
sha, and God was with him, and he allowed him to 
do wonderful things. Elisha was not stern like so 
many of the prophets, like Elijah, whose mission it 
was to rebuke, and who was more feared then loved. 



THE LITTLE CAPTIVE MAID 113 

Elisha "went about doing good" as Jesus did long 
afterward, when he was on earth. He was gentle 
and merciful, and he went up and down the land 
teaching, healing, comforting and prophesying in 
the name of the Lord. These are some of the deeds 
he performed : 

The men of the city of Jericho told him that 
their city was very pleasant, but that their water 
was not fit to drink and that because of the water 
the ground was barren, so that nothing would grow 
on it. And Elisha said "Bring me a new cruse — 
or jar— and put some salt in it." And when they 
brought the cruse and the salt to Elisha he went to 
the spring from which the water flowed and threw 
the salt into it and, behold, the water became pure, 
so that people could drink it, and the ground was no 
longer barren. 

A certain man died suddenly leaving an unpaid 
debt. He was a good man who had served Grod, and 
he would have paid the money had he lived, but the 
widow and her sons were unable to raise money 
enough to satisfy the man to whom it was due. 
Then the man threatened to carry off the two sons 
and make bondmen of them. The woman was in 
great distress, and she went to Elisha and asked him 
what she should do to save her sons. "Hast thou 
anything in the house?" asked Elisha. "I have not 
anything except a pot of oil," she answered. Then 
he said to her, "Go and borrow empty vessels of all 
thy neighbors, and take them into thy house and 



114 THE LITTLE CAPTIVE MAID 

shut the door, and pour out the pot of oil that thou 
hast into the vessels, and set aside those that 
are full." 

The woman went and borrowed empty vessels, 
just as Elisha told her to ; and she carried them into 
her house and shut the door. Then she poured oil 
from her one pot into all the vessels, and the oil kept 
on coming until all were full. And she said to her 
son, "Bring me another vessel." "There is not one 
more," he answered. So she went and told Elisha, 
the man of God, what had happened. 

"Gro, sell the oil and pay thy debt," said he, 
"and take what money is left over and buy food for 
thyself and thy children." 

The son of a rich and great woman, who had 
^een very kind to Elisha, died quite suddenly. He 
was out in the field with the reapers when his head 
began to ache so badly that they carried him in to 
his mother, and he sat on her lap until noon and 
then died. The mother mounted an ass and went 
for Elisha. When the man of Grod came to the 
house he found the child dead, lying on a bed. He 
went into the room and shut the door and prayed 
to the Lord for power. 

And he got on the bed and lay upon the child, 
and he put his mouth upon the child's mouth, and 
his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his 
hands ; and he stretched himself upon the child, and 
the child's flesh grew warm. Then Elisha left the 
room and walked up and down in the house. And 



THE LITTLE CAPTIVE MAID 115 

he went back and stretched himself again upon the 
child, and the child sneezed seven times and opened 
his eyes, and he lived! 

"The man of God came forth, and led the child 
Unto his mother, and went on his way. 
And he was there — her beautiful — her own — 
Living, and smilig on her — with his arms 
Folded upon her neck, and his warm breath 
Breathing upon her lips, and in her ear 
The music of his gentle voice once more !" 

These, and many more wonderful things Elisha 
did, and they were much talked of in the land of 
Israel. And, now, the little captive maid, far from 
home, remembered the merciful prophet, and she 
believed that he could cure her master of his leprosy. 
This would not be more difficult than other things 
which God had done through him. 

"Would that my master were with Elisha, the 
prophet," she said to her mistress, u for he would 
cure him of his leprosy." 

Naaman's wife asked her many questions about 
the prophet, and the little maid told her all that she 
knew about him. These were strange stories, and 
words came to the ears of Benhadad, the king. 

The king was very anxious for Naaman to be 
cured, so he said, "I will send a letter to the king 
of Israel, and with it Naaman, my servant, that he 
may recover him of his leprosy." 

So Namaan went to the land of Israel with the 



116 THE LITTLE CAPTIVE MAID 

letter. And he took with him much silver and gold, 
and ten fine suits of clothing to give as a present to 
the man who should make him well. 

When Jehoram, king of Israel, had read Ben- 
hadad's letter he was greatly troubled. He rent his 
clothes and cried aloud, "Am I God, to kill and to 
make alive, that Benhadad doth send this man for 
me to cure him of his leprosy? See now, how the 
king of Syria is seeking an excuse to quarrel with me . ' ' 

Men in eastern countries, wear loose garments 
which are fastened around the waist with belts or 
girdles. When in distress they sieze their coats and 
tear them from neck to girdle in order to show their 
sorrow. 

When Elisha heard that the king had rent his 
garments he sent to him saying, "Why hast thou 
rent thy clothes? Let Naaman now come to me 
and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel." 

So Naaman went with his horses and his chariot 
and stood at the door of Elisha' s house. And Elisha 
sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go and wash in 
the river Jordan seven times and thou shalt be well." 

Then Naaman was angry. He did not like be- 
ing treated with so little ceremony, for he considered 
himself a mighty man. Was he not captain of the 
army of the king of Syria? 

" I thought that the prophet would surely come 
out to me," he said, "and put his hand upon me, 
and pray to the Lord, his God, to make me well. Are 
not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of my own country, 
better than all the waters of Israel V And he turned 
and went away in a rage. 




THE LITTLE CAPTIVE WARD 



THE LITTLE CAPTIVE MAID 119 

But his servants were really fond of him, and 
they wanted him to be made well. They could not 
bear to see him throw away the chance that was be- 
fore him. Said they, "My father, if the prophet 
had bidden thee do some great thing, wouldest thou 
not have done it? How much easier then it will be 
to obey him when he says to thee only, ' Wash, and 
be clean.'" 

Then Naaman went down and dipped himself 
seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying 
of Elisha, and his flesh became as clean and as pure 
as that of a little child, and he was well. 

And he and all his men returned to the house of 
Elisha, and he said, "Behold, now I know that 
there is no God in all the earth but the God of 
Israel." And he said to Elisha, " I pray thee take a 
present from me . ' ' But Elisha replied, ' 'As the Lord 
liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none." 
Naaman urged him to take it, but he would not. 

Elisha felt that it was God who had wrought 
the miracle and that He alone was to be thanked. 

' 'Hereafter I will worship no God but the Lord, ' ' 
said Naaman. Elisha blessed him saying, u Go in 
peace." And Naaman returned to Syria. 

What wonderful things the little captive maid 
had helped to bring about ! If she had not believed 
in God and remembered his prophet, the king would 
not have sent Naaman to Israel. In Israel, Naaman 
was not only healed of his leprosy, but he learned to 
worship the true God. The little girl must have 
felt very happy when she saw her master come home 



120 THE LITTLE CAPTIVE MAID 

well. Naaman may have given her rich presents as a 
reward for what she had done for him, but whether 
he did or not, she was amply repaid, when she saw 
him worship God. 

No one is too small or too weak to serve the 
King of Heaven, and he sometimes uses a little 
child to do mighty work. 

It was only a boy who gave Jesus the bread and 
the fish with which he fed the five thousand. The 
boy had brought five barley loaves and two small 
fishes, for his luncheon, probably. When the disci- 
ples looked to see if the multitude had any food they 
found this scant provision. Suppose the lad had 
refused to give it up when asked for it. Suppose he 
had said, "It is so little, only enough for one or two. 
It won't do you any good, so I will keep it." Even 
Andrew, one of the disciples said, "What are they 
among so many'?" But Jesus took them and not 
only fed five thousand people '-but, after all had 
eaten, the disciples filled twelve baskets with the 
fragments of the five barley loaves. 

Jesus could have done this without the boy's 
bread and fishes, but he chose to use them, and how 
delighted the boy must have been to have assisted 
in the miracle, though ever so little. If he lived to 
have children, he must have told them the wonder- 
ful story, over and over again. Perhaps grandchil- 
dren climbed on his knees and clamored for the tale. 



THE LITTLE CAPTIVE MAID 



121 



'Oh, not in strange portentous way 
Christ's miracles were wrought of old, 
The common thing, the common clay, 
He touched and tinctured, and straightway 
It grew to glory manifold. 

The barley loaves were daily bread, 
Kneaded and mixed with usual skill; 
No care was given, no spell was said, 
But when the Lord had blessed, they fed 
The multitude upon the hill. 7 ' 




Jezebel, Child and Woman 



Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is 
old he will not depart from it. — Proverbs xxii, 6, 



The human heart is ever the same — willful, passionate. With 
many it is often like the storm that will spend itself to the end, 
no matter how much wreck and ruin is wrought. 

— E. P. Roe. 



Where are the kings, and where the rest 
Of those who once the world possessed? 

They're gone with all their pomp and show, 
They're gone the way that thou shalt go. 

O thou who chosest for thy share 

The world and what the world calls fair, 

Take all that it can give or lend, 
But know that death is at the end. 

— Henry Wads worth Longfellow. 



Chapter K. 

Jezebel, Child and 

Woman. 



ID you ever stop to think 
that Jezebel, that cruel 
and wicked queen, 
whose name is often 
used to describe an evil 
woman, was once a lit- 
tle baby, sweet and pure 
and innocent? The poet, Longfellow, 
tells us that little children's souls are 

As pure and white 

And crystalline as rays of light 

Direct from heaven." 

The baby had to be named, and they called her 
Jezebel. No one would name a child Jezebel now, 
but the name carried with it no unpleasant meaning 
when it was chosen for the tiny princess. The word 
Jezebel means pure, and it was a lovely name for a 
little girl, just as Agnes, which means the same 
thing, is now. The best known, Agnes lived a beau- 
tiful life, so pure and good that she is called Saint 
Agnes, and people like to name their daughters after 
her, but Jezebel ruined her name. It suited the 




125 



126 JEZEBEL, CHILD AND WOMAN 

infant in her cradle, but it was like calling darkness 
light to call the bold, cruel queen that she became, 
Jezebel. 

Jezebel was not born wicked ; little by little she 
became so. She was not taught to control her baby 
tempers, so they grew to be violent rages ; she was 
told that she was beautiful, and wealthy, and great, 
when she was a child, and encouraged to think only 
of herself, so she grew proud and selfish ; she had 
her waiting maids severely punished when they dis- 
pleased her, she struck her nurse, she beat her pet 
dog, and so she grew cruel and tyranical. 

We are told little or nothing of the childhood of 
most of the people mentioned in the Scriptures. 
Yet if we know what kind of a woman a person was 
it is not difficult to make a pretty shrewd guess as to 
what kind of a child she was. Surely, Hannah was 
pious and gentle when she was a little girl ; surely, 
Rizpah was a good daughter, and just as surely Jeze- 
bel was ill-tempered, vain and selfish. 

Jezebel was the daughter of Ethbaal, the king 
of Tyre and Sidon. Ethbaal was priest as well as 
king, and he served the most fiendish god ever in- 
vented by man. Instead of being taught to love the 
true God, who is merciful and full of loving kind- 
ness, Jezebel was instructed in the religion of Baal, 
the god who was supposed to demand human sacri- 
fices and to enjoy wicked deeds. How could Jezebel 
grow good and pure with such teaching and with 
such a god? 




JEZEBEL, CHILD AND WOMAN 



JEZEBEL, CHILD AND WOMAN 129 

Tyre was a very wealthy city with princely mer- 
chants who sent their ships all over the known 
world, carrying rich cargoes to be sold to kings and 
queens. King Solomon sent to Tyre for workmen 
and cedar wood and precious stones, when he built 
the magnificent Temple at Jerusalem. From Tyre 
came the rich purple dye which was used for the 
robes of kings; it was obtained by a secret process 
from shell -fish found along the coast. Coral, emer- 
alds, costly woods, fine linen and embroideries were 
among the wares of Tyre. Ethbaal was rich and 
powerful, and Jezebel had every wish gratified. 

Jezebel married Ahab, the son of Omri, king of 
Israel, several years before Ahab came to the throne. 
She was very young when she was married, and she 
had a long life before her in which to do good, had 
she so chosen, but all her works were evil. She had 
unbounded influence over Ahab, and he was as a 
puppet in her hands. 

The Bible says, "And Ahab the son of Omri 
did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were 
before him." 

This means that he was the most wicked king 
that Israel had ever had. Jezebel was largely res- 
ponsible for his wickedness. One story will serve 
to show the kind of woman that Jezebel was and how 
she made Ahab sin. 

" Naboth, the Jezreelite, had a vineyard, which 
was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab. And 
Ahab spake unto Naboth, 'Give me thy vineyard, 
that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it 



130 JEZEBEL, CHILD AND WOMAN 

is near unto my house : and I will give thee for it a 
better vineyard than it ; or, if it seems good to thee, 
I will give thee the worth of it in money.' And Na- 
both said to Ahab, ' The Lord forbid it me, that I 
should give the inheritance of my father unto thee/ 

" And Ahab came into his house heavy and dis- 
pleased because of the word which Naboth, the Jez- 
reelite, had spoken unto him : for he had said, ' I will- 
not give thee the inheritance of my fathers.' And 
he laid him down on his bed, and turned away his 
face, and would eat no bread. 

" And Jezebel, his wife, came to him, and said 
unto him, ' Why is thy spirit so sad, that thou eatest 
no breads' And he said unto her, ' Because I spake 
unto Naboth the Jezreelite, and said unto him, 
"Give me thy vineyard for money; or else, if it 
please thee, I will give thee another vineyard for it ; " 
and he answered, 'I will not give thee my vine- 
yard.' 

"And Jezebel his wife said unto him, 'Dost 
thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? Arise, 
and eat bread, and let thine heart be merry: I will 
give thee the vineyard of Naboth, the Jezreelite.' 
So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed 
them with his seal, and sent the letters unto the 
elders and to the nobles that were in his city, dwell- 
ing with Naboth. And she wrote in the letters, 
saying, 'Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high 
among the people ; and set two men before him, to 
bear witness against him, saying. Thou didst blas- 
pheme God and the king. And then carry him out 
and stone him that he may die." 



JEZEBEL, CHILD AND WOMAN 131 

To blaspheme is to speak irreverently of God, 
and among the Israelites those who blasphemed 
were stoned to death. Naboth was accused of this 
sin, and false witnesses testified against him; so he 
was carried out of the city and stoned until he died. 
On this charge both the Lord Jesus, and Stephen 
were condemned to death by the Jews, false wit- 
nesses swearing against them, as false witnesses 
swore against Naboth. 

" Then they sent to Jezebel saying, 'Naboth is 
stoned and is dead.' And it came to pass, when 
Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned, and was 
dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, 'Arise, take pos- 
session of the vineyard of Naboth, the Jezreelite, 
which he refused to give the for money: for Na- 
>oth is not alive, but dead.' 

u And it came to pass when Ahab heard that Na- 
both was dead, that Ahab rose up to go down to the 
vineyard of Naboth, the Jezreelite, to take posses- 
sion of it." 

Shakespeare, our greatest poet, is supposed to 
have drawn Lady Macbeth from Jezebel, but Lady 
Macbeth, although she inspired her husband to 
murder Duncan for the sake of his crown, was not 
devoid of all gentleness and womanly feeling, as 
Jezebel seems to have been. She trembled after her 
husband ' s crime . Said she : 

''Consider it not so deeply, 
These deeds must not be thought 
After these days; so it will make us mad." 

And the consciousness of "these deeds" did 
make her mad. Tormented by wretched days and 



132 



JEZEBEL, CHILD AND WOMAN 



restless nights she finally destroyed herself. Jez- 
ebel had no conscience apparently. No scruples, no 
fears interrupted the course of her wrong -doing. 

Jezebel brought up her children to do evil ; her 
daughter, Athaliah, was so wicked that of her son 
(Jezebel's grandson) it is said, "Ahaziah walked in 
the ways of the house of Ahab : for his mother was 
his counsellor to do wickedly." Could anything be 
more dreadful than to have such a mother? 

Girls and boys with good fathers and good 
mothers, born in a Christian land, and taught to 
love and to obey Grod cannot be too thankful for 
their blessings. 

Unless you learn to do right while you are young 
there is little hope that you will grow to be true men 
and pure women. 




Queen Esther 



And it was so, when the king saw Esther, the queen, standing 
in the court, that she obtained favor in his sight: and the king 
held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand, — 
Esther v, 2. 



I cannot forbear to admire God, and to learn hence His 
wisdom and His justice, not only in punishing the wickedness of 
Haman, but in so disposing it that he should undergo the very 
punishment which he had contrived for another; as also, because he 
thereby teaches others this lesson, that what mischief any one 
prepares against another, he, without knowing it, first contrives 
it against himself. — Josephus. 



When in our hour of utmost need 
We know not where to look for aid, 
When days and nights of anxious thought 
Nor help ner counsel yet have brought, 

Then this our comfort is alone, 
That we may meet before Thy throne, 
And cry, O faithful God to Thee 
For rescue from our misery; 

To Thee we raise our hearts and eyes, 
Repenting sore with bitter sighs, 
And seek Thy pardon for our sin, 
And respite from our griefs within. 

For Thou hast promised, graciously 
To hear all those who cry to Thee 
Through Him whose name alone is great, 
Our Savior and our Advocate. 

— C. Winckworth. 



Chapter X 
OlJEEN ESTHERS 



CCORDING to Jew- 
ish tradition, Eve, 
Sarah, Rebekah 
and Esther, were 
the four most beau- 
tiful women that 
ever lived. Esther 
was called Hadas- 
sah by her people, the Jews, 
the name being derived from 
a word meaning myrtle, a sym- 
bol of youth and beauty. The 
myrtle is an evergreen shrub 
or a small tree bearing white flowers and black ber- 
ries, and is a favorite in the east. Its praises have 
been sung by poets of both ancient and modern 
times. The Persians called Hadassah, Esther, which 
also means beautiful, being their name for the bright 
planet Venus. 

Esther was an orphan and was brought up by her 
cousin Mordecai, who adopted her when she was a 
small child. The Bible tells us not only the name 
of her father, but those of her grandfather and her 




135 



136 QUEEN ESTHEB 

great-grandfather. She was the daughter of Abi- 
hail, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish of the tribe 
of Benjamin. Kish, the great-grandfather of Es- 
ther, was carried off into captivity from the land of 
Judah by the great and powerful Nebuchadnezzer. 
And in a strange land dwelt Kish and his children, 
and his children's children, one of whom was Ha- 
dassah or Esther, and another her cousin Mordecai. 
Mordecai was so much older than Esther that it 
seemed as though he were her uncle rather than her 
cousin and she called him uncle. He was as good 
to her as though he had been her father and she was 
as loving and obedient as though she had been his 
daughter. 

Mordecai taught Esther the history of her peo- 
ple, and taught her to worship the true Grod. She 
heard with interest and with awe stories of Abra- 
ham, Isaac, and Jacob, of Moses and Miriam, of 
Jephthah and his daughter, of Hannah and Samuel, 
of Ruth and of David, and of many other heroes 
and heroines of her race. She wished that she 
might do something heroic herself — something that 
would make her people proud of her long after she 
was dead. But she was only a little girl, far away 
from the land of Canaan, that beautiful country 
which Grod had given to her people, and from which 
he had allowed them to be taken because of their sins. 
Hebrew women had done brave deeds in olden 
times, some of which were as noble as those of the 
men, but in Babylon and in Persia women were not 
highly esteemed. Esther did not boast of being a 



QUEEN ESTHEE 137 

Jewess, for her cousin thought it wise for them to 
seem as much as possible like the people around 
them, for the Jews were captives, but in her heart 
she was glad and proud that she was one of the 
children of Israel. 

Those Israelites who were descended from Ju- 
dah and Benjamin or, in other words, who belonged 
to the tribes of Benjamin and Judah, were called 
Jews. Judges, among whom were Joshua, Othniel, 
Jephthah, and Sampson, had ruled over the Israel- 
ites a long time, but at length the people had asked 
God to give them a king. He had done so, and 
their first king was Saul. Then came David, who 
was followed by his son Solomon, the wisest man 
who ever lived. 

At Solomon's death the kingdom was divided 
into two parts which were called the kingdom of 
Israel and the kingdom of Judah. The kingdom of 
Israel was composed of ten of the tribes of Israel 
and the kingdom of Judah of two ; Judah and Ben - 
jamin. The kingdom of Israel lasted two hundred 
and fifty -four years and during that time nineteen 
kings ruled over the ten tribes, and every one of 
these kings was wicked and did evil in the sight of 
the Lord. Grod allowed all the people of the king- 
dom of Israel to be carried away from their land, 
because of their wickedness, and other people came 
from other lands and took their cities to be their 
own. We are not told that any of the ten tribes 
ever went back to Canaan, and we do not know what 
became of them. The kingdom of Judah lasted 



138 QUEEN ESTHEE 

three hundred and eighty-eight years, and during 
that time nineteen kings and one queen ruled over 
the people. Of these nearly all were wicked, and 
almost all the time the people worshipped idols. At 
last, God sent the people of Judah out of the land of 
Canaan as He had sent the people of Israel. The 
people of Judah did not disappear entirely, as did 
those of Israel, and in time, the name Jew came to 
be used more than the name Israelite. 

Mordecai and Esther lived in Shushan, a great 
city which belonged to the Babylonians and after- 
ward to the Persians, who conquered the Babyloni- 
ans. The king of Persia made it his capitol, and 
lived there during the greater part of the year. The 
water was better than in some other large cities in 
which he might have lived and Shushan was cooler, 
because it was nearer the mountains. The palace 
was very grand. We know a good deal about it for 
only fifty years ago explorers found and unearthed 
its remains, which had been buried for a long time. 
What these men, Sir William Fenwick and Mr. 
Loftus, discovered corresponds to the description 
given in the Bible. 

A great group of buildings was raised on an 
artificial mound, measuring nearly 1,000 feet each 
way, and rising to a height of about sixty feet above 
the plain. The principal building was perhaps one 
hundred and twenty feet high, and rose above all the 
others. The effect was magnificent, for each build- 
ing was grand and the chief one was the grandest of 
all. Beautiful buildings, gardens, trees, fountains, 
flowers, all were set above the rest of the city. 



QUEEN ESTHER 139 

In the third year of his reign King Ahasuerus 
or Xerxes made a costly feast for his friends, and for 
the nobles of all the nations of Persia, and for their 
governors. He wished to show them how rich and 
great he was. He ruled over one hundred and 
twenty -seven provinces, from India in Asia even 
unto Ethiopia in Africa. This magnificent feast 
lasted one hundred and eighty days, and when it 
was over he made another for all the people in the 
palace, both great and small, and this feast lasted 
seven days. It was held in the court of the garden 
of the king's palace, where was pitched a vast tent 
with hangings of white and green and blue, which 
were fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to 
silver rings and pillars of marble. The beds in the 
palace were made of gold and silver, and the pave- 
ments were of red and blue, and white and black 
marble. The persons at the feast drank from cups 
of gold, and the king's wine was given in abundance 
so that every man might drink as much as he 
wanted. Moreover, the king sent messengers 
through the country with orders that the people 
should cease their work for a time and keep a festival 
on account of the greatness of his kingdom. 

In the women's part of the palace Vashti, the 
queen, also made a feast. 

On the seventh day of the king's feast, after he 
had drunk much wine and was merry, he sent men 
to bring Vashti before him that the people and the 
princes might see her beauty, for she was so much 
more lovely than other women that he was very 
proud of her. 



140 QUEEN ESTHER , 

Vashti refused to come. In Persia the women 
lived in a separate part of the house by themselves, 
and never came out before the men unless they were 
veiled. Vashti thought it would be wrong to appear 
before the princes and the people without her veil, 
or with her face uncovered, so, although the king sent 
for her again and again, she refused to obey him. 

Then Ahasuerus was so angry that he broke up 
the entertainment and sent for the seven wise men, 
Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Mar- 
sena, and Memucan, who were first in the kingdom. 
He told them that he had been affronted by his wife, 
Vashti, for although he had sent for her repeatedly 
to appear at his feast, she had not come once. And 
he asked what should be done to punish her for her 
disobedience. 

Memucan answered for all : 4 'Vashti, the queen, 
hath not done wrong to the king only, but also to all 
the princes, and to all the people that are in the 
provinces of King Ahasuerus, for all the women of 
Persia will no more obey their husbands when they 
hear that King Ahasuerus commanded Vashti, the 
queen, to come in before him and she came not. 
Thus shall there arise too much contempt and wrath. 
If it please the king, let there go a royal command- 
ment from him, and let it be written among the laws 
of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be changed, 
that Vashti shall come no more before the king ; and 
let the king choose another woman for queen who is 
better than she. And when the king's decree shall 



QUEEN ESTHEE 141 

be known throughout the kingdom, which is great, 
all the wives, both of rich men, and of poor men, 
will honor and obey their husbands." 

These words pleased the king, and he did as 
Memucan had advised him. He sent letters into all 
the provinces throughout the kingdom, each one 
written in the language of that province, command- 
ing that every man should be ruler in his own house, 
and that this law should be made known to all the 
people. 

Ahasuerus had been fond of Vashti, and he 
missed her after she had been sent away from the 
palace, but he could not recall her, although he was 
a powerful king, for the laws of the Medes and Per- 
sians could not be altered. There is a saying which 
has comedown to our own day — "as unalterable as 
the laws of the Medes and Persians." 

When the king's servants and friends saw that 
he was unhappy, they advised him to forget all about 
Vashti and his love for her, and to send officers to 
all the provinces of his kingdom to gather together 
the most beautiful young women that they could find, 
in order that the king might take the one that he 
liked best to be queen in Vashti's place. This advice 
pleased Ahasuerus, and he followed it. 

The king's officers got together a great number 
of beautiful maidens from every part of the kingdom, 
and among them was Esther, who was very young 
and the most beautiful of all. The young women 
were put in charge of an officer named Hagai, who 
was called the keeper of the women. Hagai was 



142 QUEEN ESTHER 

pleased with Esther, and he gave her a present and 
appointed seven maidens to wait on her. Esther did 
not make it known that she was a Jewess, for Mor- 
deeai had told her to keep it to herself. 

When King Ahasuerus saw Esther he found 
her the most beautiful of all the maidens, and he 
loved her, so he set the royal crown on her head, arid 
made her queen instead of Vashti. The marriage 
was celebrated by a great feast that was called 
Esther's feast, messengers being sent into every 
province of the kingdom with orders that the people 
should keep a feast because of the marriage. 

Mordecai went every day. to the palace and asked 
after Esther, for he loved her as though she had been 
his daughter. He was in the service of the king, 
and the Bible says that he sat in the king's gate. 
Wise men who have studied the ruins of the palace at 
Shushan tell us that the gate in which Mordecai sat 
was a square hall, measuring a little more than one 
hundred feet each way, and with a roof supported by 
four pillars in the center, and that this hall stood at 
a distance of one hundred and fifty or two hundred 
feet from the northern entrance to the great hall of 
the palace, in which were held religious ceremonies 
on grand occasions. 

In those days, while Mordecai sat in the king's 
gate, two of the king's officers, Bigthan and Teresh, 
of those who kept the door, were angry, and sought 
to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. As Mordecai sat 
in the hall he overheard these door-keepers laying 
their plans to take the king's life, for we are told 



QUEEN ESTHER 143 

that "the thing was known to Mordecai." He told 
Esther of the wicked plot and Esther told the king. 
When the door-keepers were examined their guilt 
was found out and they were both hanged. What 
Mordecai had done to save the king's life was written 
down in a book in which an account was kept of all 
the principal things that happened in the kingdom, 
but for some reason the king gave him no reward. 

There was at the palace a man named Haman, 
the son of Hammedatha, and the king made him a 
great man, setting him above all the princes who 
were at the palace with him, and all the king's serv- 
ants bowed down and did reverence to Haman, 
for Ahasuerus had commanded that honor should be 
paid him. Mordecai thought that such reverence 
paid to a man was too much like worship, and was 
against the laws of God, so he would not bow down 
to Haman. The king's servants said to Mordecai, 
"Why dost thou disobey the king's commandment?" 
Mordecai told them that it was because he was a 
Jew. After they had spoken to Mordecai a good 
many times and found that it did no good, they told 
Haman of his conduct, saying that he was a Jew. 

When Haman found that Mordecai did not bow 
down to him nor do him reverence, he was very 
angry. Said he, "The Persians who are free men 
worship me, but this man who is a slave will not 
bow down before me. Does he, then, think that he 
is so much better then anyone else?" And he made 
up his mind te punish Mordecai. It seemed to him 
to small a thing to request the king to punish one 



144 QUEEN ESTHER 

man, so he determined to wipe out the whole nation 
of Jews. He was by birth an Amalekite and his 
nation had been destroyed by the Jews. This was a 
chance for revenge. 

So Haman spoke to the king against the Jews. 
Said he: "There is a certain wicked nation, and it 
is scattered all over thy kingdom ; a nation separate 
from others, unsociable, neither worshipping the 
same gods that others do, nor using laws like the 
laws of others; differing with thy people and with 
all men, both in their manners and practices. Now 
if thou wilt be a benefactor to thy subjects, thou wilt 
give orders to destroy them utterly, and not to leave 
the least remains of them, nor preserve any of them 
even for captives and servants." 

The Jews were different from other people, of 
course, for they alone worshipped the true Grod.and 
obeyed His laws, but malicious Haman gave the 
king an entirely wrong idea of them. And in order 
that the king should be willing to part with the 
money that the Jews paid him every year in taxes, 
Haman offered to give the king ten thousand talents 
of silver out of his own purse, if he would command 
that the Jews be killed. 

The king was glad to please Haman. He took 
his ring from his hand, and gave it to him, the Jews' 
enemy. And the king said to Haman, "The silver 
is given thee and the people also, to do with them 
as it seemeth good to thee." 

The ring was what the king used when he made 
a law or a decree; he sealed the writing with his 



QUEEN ESTHER 145 

ring instead of signing his name, as we do now, and 
the seal made the writing a law which could not be 
changed. With the ring in his hands Haman might 
write what he pleased and seal it, and the decree 
would have to be carried out just as though the king 
himself had made it. 

Haman called the king's writers together, and 
they wrote for him a decree that upon the thirteenth 
day of the twelfth month all the Jews should be 
killed, young and old, men and women and little 
children. He gave permission to whoever should 
kill them to take possession of their houses, their 
lands, and all of their money and other belongings. 
Haman sealed this writing with the king's ring and 
sent copies of it by messengers into every one of the 
one hundred and twenty -seven provinces over which 
king Ahasuerus ruled. Each writing was in the 
language of the people of the province to which it 
was sent. 

The messengers went in haste to the different 
provinces, and soon all over the kingdom there was 
mourning among the Jews. They wept and fasted 
and prayed ; they took off their usual clothing and 
dressed themselves in rough sackcloth and sprinkled 
ashes on their heads to show how badly they felt. 
Mordecai, also was filled with sorrow, and he rent 
his clothes and put on sackcloth and sprinkled ashes 
on his head, and went out into the streets and 
cried with a loud and bitter cry. He went even 
before the king's palace and cried out, but he could 
not enter, for no one dressed in sackcloth was 
allowed to go through the king's gate. 



146 QUEEN ESTHEE 

Queen Esther had not heard the decree, but her 
servants came and told her that Mordecai was going 
up and down the streets clothed in sackcloth. She 
was troubled, and sent him beautiful new garments, 
urging him to take off the sackcloth and to put them 
on. But Mordecai would not do so, and the servants 
went and told Esther. The queen was greatly dis- 
tressed, and wondered what grieved her uncle so 
deeply. She sent a man called Hatach to question 
Mordecai and to find out what had befallen him. 
And Mordecai told Hatach of all that had happened 
to him, of how he had angered Haman, and what a 
terrible revenge Haman was going to take, and he 
gave him a copy of the decree which had been pub- 
lished against the Jews, bidding him to take it to his 
mistress. Also, he charged Esther, who* was still in 
the habit of obeying him, although she had become 
a queen, that she go to the king and implore him to 
save her people. 

Hatach repeated faithfully to Esther all that 
Mordecai had said, and gave her the copy of the 
decree. The queen wished to obey Mordecai, but 
she was afraid to do so, for in Persia there was a law 
that none of the king's people should approach him 
without having been called. As he sat on his throne 
he was guarded by men with axes in their hands, 
and these men stood ready to strike down those who 
ventured into his presence without having been 
summoned. Yet if the king were willing to save 
anyone he held out his golden scepter to him and he 
was spared. 



QUEEN ESTHER 147 

So Esther sent word to Mordecai saying, "All 
the king's servants, and the people of the king's 
provinces, do know that whosoever, whether man or 
woman, shall come unto the king into the inner 
court, who is not called, there is a law of his to put 
him to death, except such as to whom the king shall 
hold out the golden scepter, that he may live. But 
I have not been called to come in unto the king these 
thirty days; how then can I go and speak with 
himf 

When Mordecai heard Esther's message he did 
not change his mind as to what ought to be done. 
He sent again to her saying, "Do not think because 
thou art queen, that thou shalt be spared when our 
enemies kill all the Jews. If thou wilt neglect this 
opportunity, there will certainly arise help to thy 
people from God in some other way, but thou and 
thy relatives shall be destroyed. Who can tell 
whether thou hast not been made queen on purpose 
for this time, so that thou mightest save thy 
people?" 

Then Esther replied, "Go, gather together all 
the Jews that are in the city, and let them fast for 
me, neither eating nor drinking for three days, night 
or day; I also, and my maidens, will fast, and then 
I will go in unto the king, which is not according to 
law, and if I be put to death, I am willing to die." 

So Mordecai went and called all the Jews 
together, and they did as Esther commanded. And 
she, herself, and her maidens, wore mourning dress 



148 QUEEN ESTHER 

for three days, and fasted, she praying to God to 
have mercy upon her and to incline the king's heart 
toward her. 

The learned Jewish historian Josephus gives a 
more detailed account of Esther's interview with the 
king than the Bible does. 

"When Esther had used this supplication for 
three days, she put off those garments, changed her 
habit, and adorned herself as became a queen, and 
took two of her handmaids with her, the one of 
which supported her, as she gently leaned upon her, 
and the other followed after, and lifted up her large 
train (which swept along the ground) , with the 
extremities of her fingers. And thus she came to 
the king, having a blushing redness in her coun- 
tenance, with a pleasant agreeableness in her behav- 
ior, yet did she go in to him with fear ; and as soon 
as she was come over against him, as he was sitting 
on his throne, in his royal apparel, which was a gar- 
ment interwoven with gold and precious stones, 
which made him seem to her the more terrible, 
especially when he looked at her somewhat severely, 
and with a countenance on fire with anger, her 
joints failed her immediately out of the dread she 
was in, and she fell down sideways in a swoon. But 
the king changed his mind, which happened, as I 
suppose, by the will of God, and was concerned for 
his wife, lest her fear should bring some very ill 
thing upon her, and he leaped from his throne and 
took her in his arms, and recovered her, by embrac- 
ing her, and speaking comfortably to her, and 



QUEEN ESTHEE 149 

exhorting her to be of good cheer, and not to suspect 
anything that was said on account of her coming to 
him without being called, because that law was 
made for subjects, but that she, who was a queen, 
as well as he a king, might be entirely secure. As 
he said this, he put the scepter in her hand, and laid 
his rod upon her neck, and so freed her from her 
fear. And after she had recovered herself by these 
encouragements, she said, u My lord, it is not easy 
for me, on the sudden to say what has happened, for 
as soon as I saw thee to be great, and comely, and 
terrible, my spirit departed from me, and 1 had no 
soul left in me.' " 

Esther meant that her daring in going to the 
king uncalled for, and the sight of him in his gran- 
deur, on his throne, had frightened her so that she 
had fallen down as though dead. It was with diffi- 
culty and in a low voice that she managed to say this. 
When the king saw her trembling, he was much dis- 
tressed for he was fond of her, and had not meant 
to frighten her. It was habit that had made him look 
so angry when she approached. He was used to 
being obeyed in every little thing, and it was natural 
for him to show rage when a law was broken. Now 
he felt sorry that he had caused the roses to flee 
from her cheeks and tried to bring them back. He 
was ready, he said, to grant her whatever she wished, 
even to half of his kingdom. 

But Esther put off telling what she wanted, 
promising to do so the next day, if the king and 
Haman would come to a banquet which she would 
prepare. 



150 QUEEN ESTHER 

The king agreed, and sent word to Haman, 
commanding him to be present at the queen's ban- 
quet. Haman was much flattered by this command 
and he came joyfully. The king remembered that 
Esther had invited him because she wished to ask 
some favor of him, and as they sat at the banquet 
he asked, "What is thy desire? It shall be given 
thee, even to the half of my kingdom." 

Esther still put off her request. Said she, "If 
I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it 
please the king to grant my request, let the king and 
Haman come to another banquet which I shall make 
ready for them to-morrow, and then I will tell the 
king what it is I would ask of him." 

The king promised, and then he and Haman 
went away. Haman felt proud and happy because 
he was to be honored a second time. As he went 
through the king's gate he sawMordecai sitting there 
as usual. Every one but the Jew bowed down before 
Haman, but Mordecai did not move. This made 
Haman very angry and spoiled his satisfaction. He 
went home to tell his wife and his friends about the 
banquet, but he could not get the thought of Mor- 
decai's lack of respect out of his head. When 
Zeresh, his wife, and his friends were gathered 
together, Haman boasted of his riches and of his 
greatness. He told them how the king had set him 
above all the princes in the palace and above all his 
servants, and that Esther, the queen, had allowed no 
man but himself to be present at the banquet which 
she had given the king. And this was not all ; he 



QUEEN ESTHER 151 

was invited to aD other banquet which was to take 
place the next day. "Yet," said he, "all these things 
do not make me happy, as long as Mordecai, the Jew, 
sits in the king's gate, and fails to do me reverence." 

"That is a little thing, easily remedied," thought 
Hainan's friends. "The king thinks so much of 
Haman that he will do much to please him." Said 
they, "Let a gallows be made fifty cubits high, and 
to-morrow ask the king to let Mordecai be hanged 
on it. After that, go thou merrily in to the queen's 
banquet." 

Haman was pleased with this advice, and he told 
his servants to prepare the gallows, and to stand it 
up in tbe court -yard of his house. They did as he 
commanded, and in imagination Haman saw his 
enemy already hanged. Mordecai had done nothing 
to harm Haman, but Haman was preparing to destroy 
not only Mordecai but a whole nation. Haman was 
Mordecai's enemy, but he felt as though Mordecai 
were his. It is often that way. A man injures an- 
other and his conscience tortures him so that he 
begins to think that the man whom he has hurt has 
done him an injury, while, in fact, the second man 
is entirely innocent. 

That night Grod took away the king's sleep, and 
as the king was not willing to lose the time of his 
lying awake, he thought he would spend it in some- 
thing that might be of advantage to his kingdom. 
He commanded a servant to bring him the chroni- 
cles of the former kings, and the record of his own 
actions ; and when he had brought them and was 



152 QUEEN ESTHER 

reading them, one man was found to have received 
a country on account of his excellent management 
on a certain occasion, and the name of the country 
was set down ; and another was found to have had 
a present made to him on account of his faithfulness 
to the king. Then the scribe came to Bigthan and 
Teresh, the officers who had planned to kill the 
king, and whose plot Mordicai had discovered, 
thereby saving the king's life. When the scribe read 
no more about Mordecaiandwas going on to another 
history, the king stopped him and asked whether it 
was not added that Mordecai had had a reward given 
him. The scribe answered, "There has been noth- 
ing done for him." The king commanded that the 
reading be stopped and asked what time it was. He 
was told that the night was over, and that it was 
day. 

Haman was outside in the court waiting to be 
summoned, for he had come very early to see that 
Mordecai might be hanged on the new gallows. 

The king's servant said, " Haman stands in the 
court." 

"Let him come in," answered the king. 

So Haman came in and bowed down before the 
king. He could not speak until the king spoke to 
him. Ahasuerus was thinking of Mordecai and that 
he ought to have been rewarded for saving the 
king's life. 

u What shall be done to the man whom the king 
delighteth to honor?" he asked. 



QUEEN ESTHER 153 

Haman said to himself. "The king means me, 
for lately there is no one whom it pleases him to 
honor so much as myself," and so he gave advice to 
suit his vanity. 

"Let the royal robes that the king wears, and 
the horse that the king rides, and the crown that is 
set upon his head be brought to the man whom the 
king delighteth to honor, by one of the king's princes, 
and let the prince dress him in the royal robes, and 
mount him on the king's horse, and place the royal 
crown on his head, and lead the horse through the 
streets of the city crying, 'Thus shall it be done to 
the man whom the king delighteth to honor." 

So spoke Haman supposing that all this honor 
would be paid to himself. The advice pleased the 
king, and he set about having it put into effect at 
once. There stood Haman, who was at that time 
the greatest, man in the palace except the king. He 
should attend to the matter." 

"Make haste and take the robes and the horse 
and the crown to Mordecai, the Jew, that sitteth in 
the king's gate and do all that thou hast said. Leave 
nothing undone," commanded the king. 

Haman was almost dumf ounded and overcome 
with anger and shame, but he did not dare to dis- 
obey the king. He took the royal robes and the 
king's horse and the royal crown to Mordecai and 
dressed him in the robes and set the crown on his 
head and caused him to mount the horse, and then 
he led the horse through the streets and proclaimed 
before him "Thus shall it be done to the man whom 
the king delighteth to honor." 



154 QUEEN ESTHER 

Mordecai must have been very much astonished 
at this proceeding. It is hardly likely that Haman 
said much to explain it. He, who had so lately 
worn sackcloth and ashes, now wore kingly gar- 
ments and a crown, and was led through the streets 
by his enemy, while all men did him honor. He 
was not puffed up, though, and after the ride was 
over, he went back and sat down humbly in the 
king's gate. As for Haman, he was so full of shame 
that he covered his face as he hurried home, hoping 
that no one would recognize him. As he was tel- 
ling his wife and his friends what had happened, a 
messenger came from the king to summon him to 
Esther's banquet. 

While the king and Esther where at the ban- 
quet, the king said again to Esther, "What is thy 
desire? It shall be given thee, even to half of my 
kingdom." 

Esther answered, u O king, if I have found 
favor in thy sight, and it please thee, let my life be 
given me and the lives of my people. For evil hath 
been spoken against us, which is not true, for we 
have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, 
to be slain and to perish. If we had been sold into 
bitter servitude I should have held my tongue for 
that could have been born, but I and my people are 
to be destroyed." 

Then said Ahasuerus, "Who is he, and where 
is he that has dared to do these things'?" 

"Our enemy is this wicked Haman," an- 
swered Esther. 




QUEEN ESTHER 



QUEEN ESTHEE 157 

Then Haman was afraid before the king and 
queen. The king arose hastily from the banquet 
and went out into the garden in great anger. When 
he returned Haman was on his knees before Esther 
begging for his life. 

Just then one of the king's servants thought of 
the gallows in Hainan's court -yard; he had seen it 
when he had gone to Hainan's house to summon 
him to the banquet. The king allowed him to speak, 
and he told of the gallows, adding that it had been 
prepared for Mordecai. Then the king was angrier 
than ever. His command was brief, u Hang him 
upon them." 

So they hanged Haman upon the gallows that 
he had prepared for Mordecai, and the king's wrath 
was pacified. Ahasuerus sent for Mordecai that very 
day and gave him the ring which he had before given 
to Haman, and he gave Haman' s house to Esther, 
the queen. Esther told the king that Mordecai was 
her cousin, and that he had always been as kind as 
a father to her, and with the king's approval, she 
made Mordecai ruler ever the house that had be- 
longed to Haman. 

But there was still the decree which Haman 
had caused to be written, and had sealed with the 
king's ring, and had sent into all the provinces, tell- 
ing the governors and the people throughout the 
kingdom that on the thirteenth day of the twelfth 
month they should kill the Jews in every city and 
take possession of whatever had belonged to them. 
So Esther went again to the king, although he had 



158 QUEEN ESTHER 

not called her, risking death a second time for the 
sake of her people; and she fell down at his feet 
and wept. Ahasuerus held out his golden scepter 
toward her and she arose, and stood before him. 
She was not so afraid as she had been the first time, 
and found words to beg that the decree of Haman, 
which had been sealed by the king's ring, might be 
changed, for, she said, u How can I bear to see all 
my people destroyed?" 

The king, himself, could not take back Haman' s 
decree because no law or decree of the Medes and 
Persians could be changed. He sent for Mordecai 
and told him and Esther that, although he had all- 
ready hanged Haman and given them his property, 
he was willing to do still more to please them. They 
might write whatever they wished concerning the 
Jews and seal it with the king's ring. So Mordecai 
called together the king's writers and commanded 
them to write another decree, giving the Jews per- 
mission on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, 
to gather themselves together in every city and to 
kill all who should try to harm them. This decree 
was copied into every language, and sent in haste to 
all the provinces. The messengers rode out of Shu- 
shan on mules and on camels. 

The king gave Mordecai blue and white clothes 
such as kings wore with a robe of purple and fine 
linen, and he set a great crown of gold on his head. 
Josephus says that Mordecai went forth in a public 
procession wearing these garments and with a gold 
chain around his neck. When the Jews saw him in 



QUEEN ESTHEE 159 

such favor with the king they were very glad for they 
felt that it was no longer a reproach to be a Jew. 
The rejoicing was great both in the cities and in the 
country. Where there had been mourning and fast- 
ing, there was now gladness and thanksgiving. On 
the thirteenth day of the twelfth month the Jews 
gathered themselves together in every city. Armed 
with their swords, they fought for their lives, and 
God gave them the victory over all that came out 
against them. On the fourteenth and fifteenth days 
they rested and rejoiced. They gave presents to one 
another and sent gifts to the poor. Queen Esther 
sent letters to all the Jews telling them to hold a 
feast on the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the 
twelfth month every year in memory of their deliv- 
erence from their enemies, and this feast, which is 
called the feast of Purim, is celebrated to this day. 

Esther was very young when she saved her peo- 
ple from destruction, and she accomplished her great 
deed by the exercise of simple virtues. She obeyed 
Mordecai, loved her people, and had faith in God. 



Our God, our help in ages past, 
Our hope for years to come, 
Our shelter from the stormy blast, 
And our eternal home! 

Before the hills in order stood, 
Or earth received her frame, 
From everlasting Thou art God, 
To endless years the same. 



160 



QUEEN ESTHER 



A thousand ages in Thy sight 

Are like an evening gone, 

Short as the watch that ends the night 

Before the rising dawn. 

Time, like an ever-rolling stream, 
Bears all its sons away; 
They fly, forgotten as a dream 
Dies at the opening day. 

Our God, our help in ages past, 
Our hope for years to come! 
Be thou our guard while troubles last, 
And our eternal home. 

—Isaac Watts. 




< 



The Virgin Mary 



And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, 

And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. 

For he hath regarded the low estate of His handmaiden ; for be- 
hold, from henceforth, all generation shall call me blessed. 

For He that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy 
is His name. 

And His mercy is on them that fear Him from generation to 
generation. 

He hath shewed strength with His arm; He hath scattered the 
proud in the imagination of their hearts. 

He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them 
of low degree. 

He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich He 
hath sent empty away. 

He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of His 
mercy ; 

As He spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to His seed for- 
ever.—^. Luke i, 46-55. 



h 



Chapter M 

TSi^roun Mary. 




ifr 




HE most illus- 
trious of women, 
the most highly 
honored by God 
and by man, is 
Mary, she who 
was the mother 
of Christ. 
Innumerable girls bear her 
name and countless others have 
borne it. There are Marys tall 
and short, dark and fair; Marys 
speaking many different languages 
and living in vastly different 
Aj ways; and, among all these, only 

those who are loving and pure are 
worthy of the name. 
The Virgin Mary was 

" In every look, word, deed and thought, 
Nothing but sweet and womanly. " 

The Biblical account of Mary is extremely simple 
and concise when contrasted with the legends that 
have grown up around her. There are legends of her 
birth and of her childhood and of her father and her 

163 



164 THE VIRGIN MARY 

mother, long before she was born. The evangelists 
tell us almost nothing of her antecedents, except that 
she was of the tribe of Judah and of the line of David. 

According to the legends, the parents of Mary 
were Joachim and Anna. They lived in Nazareth, in 
Galilee, but before her marriage Anna dwelt in Beth- 
lehem. They were religious people and very charit- 
able, for they divided their property into three por- 
tions, giving one to the service of the Temple, another 
to the poor, reserving only a third for themselves. 
For twenty years they lived quietly and piously, but 
they had one great grief. They had no children. 
At the end of that time Joachim, who was sorely 
distressed because of his childless state, went into the 
wilderness and fasted and prayed for forty days and 
forty nights. He felt that his name would be blotted 
out from Israel if he left no child behind him when he 
died. The Hebrews desired children above all bless- 
ings. Says the Psalmist: 

" Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord. 

As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so 
are children of the youth. 

Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of 
them." 

At the end of his period of fasting an angel 
appeared to Joachim and told him that he and his 
wife should have a daughter and that they should call 
her name Mary. 

While her husband was in the desert, Anna was 
very lonely. Her maid Judith, noticing her distress, 
told her that if she had a child all would be different. 
At this Anna, already only too conscious of her grief, 
was overcome with sadness. She went into her 







THE VIRGIN MARY 



»_ 



THE VIRGIN MARY 167 

garden and sat down under a laurel tree, bemoaning 
her childlessness and praying to God to have pity 
on her. 

Suddenly two bright and shining angels stood 
before her, promising that she should have a child 
who should be spoken of throughout the world. 

Joachim returned home joyfully and found Anna 
equally glad. In time a little daughter was born to 
them and they called her Mary, in obedience to the 
angel who had appeared to Jaochim. 

Mary was a most remarkable child. At nine 
months of age she walked nine steps and she did many 
other wonderful things which caused people to believe 
that there was a great future before her. When 
she was three years old her parents took her to the 
Temple to dedicate her to the Lord. She walked up 
the Temple steps without help, and when the high 
priest placed her upon the third step of the altar she 
danced. She was so good and so beautiful that every- 
body loved her. 

Mary remained at the Temple until she was 
twelve years old, growing in perfection from year to 
year. At the end of this time the high priest com- 
manded all the maidens that were in the Temple to 
return to their homes to be married. Mary refused to 
do this, for she said that she had promised to live only 
for the Lord. The high priest thought that she ought 
to marry, and he asked God to show him who was to 
be her husband. Then he called together all the 
marriageable men of the house of David, telling each 
one to bring his rod in order that God might show a 
sign through the rods. 

* Several times in the history of the children of 



168 THE VIRGIN MARY 

Israel a rod had been used to convey signs from God. 
Moses' rod had been used in performing the miracles 
before Pharaoh, and Aaron's rod had budded and 
blossomed and borne fruit in the wilderness. 

The marriageable men included the widowers, 
and among these came Joseph, who did not present 
his rod with the others, for he felt unworthy of marrying 
the beautiful young Mary. He was no longer young, 
and had grown children. The other rods were pre- 
sented and no sign occurred. Then the high priest 
discovered that Joseph had held back his rod. As 
soon as Joseph's rod was presented, a dove came forth 
from it and flew to Joseph, alighting on his head. 

So Mary was betrothed to Joseph, who returned 
to his home to get ready for the marriage. Mary went 
to her parents in Galilee. 

Most of the above is legendary. But now we come 
to what is told of Mary in the Bible. One day when 
she was alone an angel appeared to her. It was 
Gabriel, who came from God to announce the high 
honor and the happiness that were to befall her. 

The legends say that the angel came to her while 
she was engaged in spinning purple thread for a new 
veil for the Temple. Seven maidens had been chosen 
to make this veil, and to Mary it had fallen to spin 
the true purple. While she was bending over her 
work the room became suddenly filled with a great 
light and she looked up and saw the angel. She fell 
on her knees before him. 

"Hail, thou that art highly favored," said the 
angel, "the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou 
among women." 

When Mary saw the angel and heard his gracious 



THE VIRGIN MARY 169 

salutation she did not know what to make of it; she 
did not speak, but waited for the heavenly messenger 
to enlighten her. 

"Fear not, Mary/' continued the angel, "for 
thou hast found favor with God. Thou shalt have a 
son and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, 
and shall be called the Son of the Highest. And the 
Lord shall give unto him the throne of his father David. 
And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; 
and of his kingdom there shall be no end.' ' 
1 " How shall this be/ ' asked Mary. 

"With God nothing is impossible/ ' replied the 
angel. 

Making no protestations of her unworthiness, and 
with true humility, not questioning God's choice, 
Mary responded: 

"Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it unto 
me according to thy word.' ' 

God sent Mary to the house of her elderly cousin, 
Elisabeth, who was expecting the birth of John the 
Baptist, he that was to be the forerunner of Jesus. 

Elisabeth rejoiced when she saw Mary, and greeted 
her as the future mother of her Lord, paying her great 
deference. This was a reversal of the usual order of 
things, for the Jews render respect and homage to the 
aged, and Elisabeth was "well stricken in years/' 
while Mary was still a young girl, probably about 
fourteen. 

There is a tradition that Mary had blue eyes and 
golden hair, which were very unusual among her race. 
David is said to have been equally fair, and so was 
Absalom, the beautiful rebel prince. 

Elisabeth was very kind and motherly, and Mary 



170 



THE VIRGIN MARY 



stayed with her for three months. The two cousins, 
the young girl and the wife of many years standing, 
were both looking forward to great happiness, which 
in each case had been heralded by an angel. They 
must have been full of holy joy, and those quiet, glad 
days spent in the hill country with the venerable 
Elisabeth must have been just what Mary needed to 
prepare her for the future. 

Take Joy home 

And make a place in thy great heart for her, 

And give her time to grow, and cherish her; 
* * * * 

It is a comely fashion to be glad, 

Joy is the grace we say to God. 

— Jean Ingelow. 








Salome, the Dancer 



And she, being instructed of her mother, said, Give me here 
John Baptist's head in a charger. — St. Matthew xiv.8. 

Ah, wasteful woman — she who may 

On her sweet self set her own price, 
Knowing he cannot choose, but pay — 

How she has cheapened Paradise ! 
How given for naught her priceless gift ! 

How spoiled the bread and spill'd the wine, 
Which, spent with due respective thrift, 

Had made brutes men, and men divine ! 

— Coventry Patmore. 

One deed may mar a life, 

And one can make it ; 
Hold firm thy will for strife, 
Lest a quick blow break it. 

Even now from far on viewless wing, 

Hither speeds the nameless thing 
Shall put thy spirit to the test. 

Haply, or ere yon sinking sun 
Shall drop behind the purple west, 

All shall be lost — or won ! 

— R. W. Gilder. 




Chapter XII 

we tjie Dancer 



F you should please a 
king and he should 
promise to reward 
you with whatever 
you should ask, 
there would float 
before your eyes 
such a dazzling ar- 
ray of presents, of gold and silver 
and jewels, that you would hardly 
know what to choose. You would 
shut your eyes, perhaps, and think 
hard, and end by naming something 
that you wanted very much; it 
might be something that would 
not give you so much pleasure as you thought it would 
before you got it, but it would surely be something 
very fine, unless you were like some of the heedless folk 
in fairy tales who spoke before they thought, and wasted 
their wishes on foolishness. 

Once upon a time there was a girl, the daughter 
of a queen and the niece of a king, whose uncle promised 
her whatsoever she should ask. She was worse than 

173 



174 SALOME, THE DANCER 

foolish, she was wicked. Her request made her famous, 
but famous for evil not for good. At her mother's 
bidding she asked for the death of a good man and 
framed her desire in such a way that its execution 
stands out a blot on history. 

There are many persons who are remembered 
through the centuries on account of some single deed 
that they have done. There are noble deeds which 
have made the names of their performers honored for 
all time — deeds such as the gallant sacrifice of Arnold 
Winkelried, who, gathering to his breast the spears 
of his enemies, made his countrymen a way to victory 
over his dead body. 

in 



"Make way for liberty/ he cried, 
Make way for liberty,' and died." 



And there are acts of love such as Mary's an- 
nointing of Christ's feet, and those of humble self- 
denial like the widow's gift of two mites and, alas, 
there are single acts, of wrong like Jonah's running 
away from God, and Judas' betraying his Master with 
a kiss, all being their doers chief influence for good or 
for bad for ages to come. 

Salome, the daughter of Herodias, is remembered 
for having caused the death of John the Baptist. 

John the Baptist was more honored by God than 
any other prophet. He has been called the last of the 
prophets. His birth was foretold by an angel of God; 
he was the messenger of Christ, sent before Him to 
prepare the way; he baptized Jesus, and yet he died 
in prison, at the request of Herodias' daughter. 



SALOME, THE DANCER 175 

" God moves in a mysterious way 
His wonders to perform. " 

In the days of Herod, the king of Judea, there 
lived a priest named Zacharias and his wife Elisabeth. 
Elisabeth was a cousin of Mary, afterwards the mother 
of Christ. She and Zacharias were both old, but they 
had no children. One day when Zacharias was burn- 
ing incense in the temple and the multitude of wor- 
shippers were praying without, there appeared to 
Zacharias an angel standing on the right side of the 
altar. When Zacharias saw the angel he was troubled, 
and fear fell upon him. But the angel said unto him: 

"Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard, 
thou shalt have a son and thou shalt call his name 
John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and 
many shalt rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great 
in the sight of the Lord, and he shall be filled with 
the Holy Ghost. And many of the children of Israel 
shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go 
before Him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn 
the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the diso- 
bedient to the hearts of the just; to make ready a 
people prepared for the Lord." 

Zacharias was very anxious to have a son, but he 
and Elisabeth were so old, and had so long wished and 
prayed for a child without having one, that he could 
not help doubting even with the angel before him. 
Said he : 

" Whereby shall I know this? For I am an old 
man, and my wife is well stricken in years." 

"I am Gabriel, that stands in the presence of 



176 SALOME, THE DANCER 

God," answered the angel, "and am sent to speak 
unto thee, and to show thee these glad tidings. And, 
behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak 
until the day that these things be performed, because 
thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled 
in their season." 

Then the angel disappeared, and Zacharias went 
out to the people who had been waiting for him and 
wondering why he had stayed so long in the temple. 
And it came to pass as the angel Gabriel, had said, Zach- 
arias could not speak until after his son was born. 

The boy was called John, as the angel had fore- 
told and, when he was old enough he went to live in the 
wilderness by himself . His clothing was made of rough 
camel's hair and he fastened it around his waist with a 
leathern girdle. His food was locusts and wild honey. 

Many people have thought it strange that John 
the Baptist should have eaten locusts, but that is be- 
cause they have not known that locusts are often used 
for food in Palestine. Sometimes they are ground 
and pounded and are mixed with flour and water and 
made into cakes, and sometimes they are boiled or 
roasted or fried in butter. An English clergyman 
who has eaten them tells us that they are more like 
shrimps than anything else. 

When John began preacning in the wilderness, 
people flocked to hear him, from Jerusalem, and all 
Judea, and all the region round about Jordan. He 
cried, "Repent ye! for the kingdom of heaven is at 
hand." Many repented and confessed their sins and 
were baptized by him in the river Jordan. 



»• 




SALOME, THE DANCER 



SALOME, THE DANCER 179 

Jesus came to John and was baptized, not be- 
cause he had any sins to repent, but to set an example 
to the multitude. 

"And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up 
straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were 
opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God de- 
scending like a dove, and lighting upon Him: 

And, lo, a voice from heaven, saying, t This is my 
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased/ " 

John did not hesitate to rebuke his hearers for 
their sins and, among others, he reproved Herod, and 
Herodias. Therefore Herod put John in prison. He 
would have put him to death, but he was afraid to do 
so because the people knew that John was a prophet. 
But Herodias was determined that John should die 
and she watched her opportunity. 

A court festival was held, before long, in honor of 
Herod's birthday. While the feast was in progress, 
the beautiful young daughter of Herodias came and 
danced before Herod and his guests. The king was 
charmed with her skill and her grace and he swore 
that he would give her whastoever she would ask. 
Prompted by her wicked and revengeful mother, 
Salome demanded that the head of John the Baptist 
be brought to her on a charger — that is on a dish or 
a platter. 

Herod did not like to consent to so bloody a deed, 
but he had given his word to Salome before his whole 
court and his guests and was ashamed to break it. 
Yet how much better it would have been to have 
broken such a promise than to have kept it. 



180 SALOME, THE DANCER 

The order was given. Men went to the prison 
and killed the prophet and his head was brought to 
the girl. She did not shudder at the ghastly sight, but 
took the dish and carried it to her mother, who was 
short-sighted enough to glory in the iniquitous deed. 

John's disciples came and got John's body and 
buried it. Then they went and told Jesus. They 
could have done nothing better. He is the one to 
whom to carry sorrows. 

As for John the Baptist, he has his reward. Often 
those who seem vanquished are the true victors. 

" I sing the hymn of the Conquered who fell in the battle of life — 
The hymn of the wounded, the beaten, who died overwhelmed in 

the strife; 
Not the jubilant song of the victors for whom the resounding 

acclaim 
Of nations was lifted in chorus, whose brows wore the chaplet of 

fame, 
But the hymn of the low, and the humble, the weary and broken 

in heart; 
Who strove and who failed, acting bravely a silent and desperate 

part ; 
Whose youth bore no flowers on its branches, whose hopes burned 

in ashes away, 
From whose hands slipped the prize they had grasped at, who 

stood at the dying of day. 
With the work of their life all around them, unpitied, unheeded 

alone, 
With death swooping aown o'er their failure and all but their 

faith overthrown, 
While the voice of the world shouts its chorus, the pean for those 

who have won, 
While the trumphet is sounding triumphant and high to the 

breeze and the sun 



SALOME, THE DANCER 



181 



Gay banners are waving, hands clapping and hurrying feet 
Thronging after the laurel-crowned victors who stand on the field 

of defeat, 
In the shadow, 'mongst those who are fallen and wounded and 

dying — and there 
Chant a requiem low, place my hands on their pale knotted brows, 

breathe a prayer, 
Hold the hand that is helpless and whisper, 
'They only the victory win 
Who have fought the good fight and have vanquished the demon 

that tempts us within, 
Who have held to their faith, unseduced by the prize that the world 

hold high; 
Who have dared for a high cause to suffer, resist — to fight, if need 

be, to die.' 
Speak, History, who are life's victors? Unroll thy long annals 

and say — 
Are they those whom the world called the victors, who won the 

success of a day? 
The Martyrs or Nero? The Spartans who fell at Thermopylae's 

tryst, 
Or the Persians and Xerxes? His judges or Socrates; Pilate or 

Christ. " 




The Daughter of Jairus 






I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, 
though he were dead, yet shall he live. — St. John xi, 25. 

We may not climb the heavenly steeps 

To bring the Lord Christ down; 
In vain we search the lowest deeps, 

For Him no depths can drown. 

But warm, sweet, tender, even yet 

A present help is He ; 
And faith has yet its Olivet, 

And love its Galilee. 

The healing of the seamless dress 

Is by our beds of pain ; 
We touch Him in life's throng and press, 

And we are whole again. 

Through Him the first fond prayers are said, 

Our lips of childhood frame ; 
The last low whispers of the dead 

Are burdened with His name. 

Lord and master of us all, 

Whate'er our name or sign. 
We own Thy sway, we hear Thy call. 

We test our lives by Thine. 

— Johx Greexleaf Whittier. 



Chapter Alll 
TiiEDAUGIlTERpFjAIRyS 



IT is strange how little the Bible 
tells us about some of the people 
of whom we should like to know 
most. One of the most wonderful 
stories in the Xew Testament is 
about the daughter of Jairus, the 
little girl who was dead and whom 
the Saviour brought to life again. 
While He was on earth Jesus raised 
three people from the dead, the son of 
the widow of Nain, the daughter of 
Jairus and Lazarus. These lives ought 
to have been doubly precious to their 
owners, we thrnk ; and they should 
have made very good use of them. 
We should like to know what became of the widow's 
son and of the ruler's daughter, but the Scriptures are 
silent. We do not know even their names. 

In his popular book, "The Prince of the House 
of David/' the Reverend J. H. Ingraham, gives us 
quite a story about the widow's son, but it is imaginary. 
He is supposed to be called Samuel and to have been 
betrothed to a maiden whose name was Ruth. Samuel 




185 



186 THE DAUGHTER OF JAIRUS 

had just returned from a journey which had been full 
of hazardous adventure, when he was stricken with 
fever and died suddenly. Ruth was prostrated by 
the blow and she was unable to accompany the bier 
to the burial place outside the city gates. Her friend. 
Adina, remained with her in her room. 

"As the funeral train passed the lattice/ ' writes 
Adina to her father, "it seemed endless, so vast a 
number of people accompanied the body to do honor 
to a widow of Israel. At length it passed by, and I 
was left alone with the motionless Ruth. She seemed 
to sleep, though every few moments she would murmur 
the name of the dead. I sat by her, reflecting upon the 
mysterious ways of God in bringing this widow's son 
safely home from the thousand dangers to which he 
had been exposed, from shipwreck and bondage, to 
gladden her soul with his presence for a few hours, 
and then to die in her arms ! 

" Suddenly I heard a very great shout. I started 
and hastened to the lattice. It was repeated louder 
and with a glad tone that showed me that it was a 
shout of joy. It seemed to come from beyond the 
city walls and from a hundred voices raised in unison. 
I knew that the housetop overlooked the walls, and, 
seeing Ruth moved not, I ascended rapidly to the 
parapet, the shouts and glad cries increasing as I went 
up and exciting my wonder and curiosity. Upon 
reaching the flat roof and stepping upon the parapet, 
I saw coming along toward the house, with the speed 
of the antelope, Elec, our Gibeonite slave. He was 
waving his hands wildly, and crying out something 



THE DAUGHTER OF JAIRUS 187 

which I could not hear. Behind him I saw two 
youths running also, appearing to be the bearers of 
some great tidings. 

" I knew something wonderful must have occurred, 
but could not divine what it could be. On looking 
toward the gate, from which direction the shouts at 
intervals continued to approach, I discovered on the 
hill-side of the cemetery many people crowded 
together and evidently surrounding some person in 
their midst; for the whole order of the procession was 
broken up. The bier I could not discern, nor could I 
comprehend how the solemnity of the march of the 
funeral train was suddenly changed to a confused 
multitude, rending the sky with loud acclamations. 
The whole body of people was pressing back toward 
the city. The persons whom I had first seen running 
along the street now made themselves audible as they 
drew nigher. 

" 'He is alive! He is alive/ " shouted Elec. 

" 'He has been raised from the dead/ cried the 
young man next behind him. 

" 'He lives, and is walking back to the city/ 
called the third to those who, like me, had run to their 
housetops to know the meaning of the uproar we had 
heard. 

" 'Who — who is alive? ' I eagerly demanded of 
Elec, as he passed beneath the parapet. 'What is this 
shouting, O Elec? ' 

" He looked up to me with a face expressive of the 
keenest delight, mixed with awe, and said, 'Young 
Rabbi Samuel is come to life. He is no longer dead. 



188 THE DAUGHTER OF JAIRUS 

You will soon see him, for they are escorting him back 
to the city and everybody is mad with joy. Where 
is Ruth, the maiden? I am come to tell her the glorious 
news/ " 

All this seems very real, and there are several 
pages more about the young man, an eye-witness 
describing the miracle of his being restored to life. 
Wonderful as the story is, the Bible allows it only a 
few verses. So it is with the raising of Jairus' daughter. 
We must fill in the outlines ourselves. 

Jairus was wealthy and prominent, a ruler in the 
Jewish church or synagogue. He had but one daughter 
and she was probably an only child. The father was 
very fond of her and she was the light of the house- 
hold. She was dark-eyed and slim, after the usual 
fashion of Hebrew girls, and had long black hair which 
shone like silk. She was brought up in luxury and 
had maidens to wait on her, and beautiful dresses to 
wear and costly jewels and ornaments with which 
to adorn herself. Jairus never tired of adding to her 
store of treasures. He loved to see her beauty set off 
by his presents and to see her dark eyes sparkle with 
pleasure when he brought her something new and 
pretty. 

General Lew Wallace has given us in his descrip- 
tion of Ben Hur's sister, Tirzah, a sketch which might 
be applied to the ruler's daughter. Ben Hur's father 
had been a prince of Jerusalem, and his children 
belonged to the most favored class of Israelites. 

"As the two looked at each other, their resem- 
blance was plain. (Ben Hur's eyes and hair were black.) 



THE DAUGHTER OF JAIRUS 189 

"Her features had the regularity of his and were of the 
same Jewish type. They had also the charm of childish 
innocency of expression. Home life and its trustful 
love permitted the negligent attire in which she ap- 
peared. A chemise buttoned upon the right shoulder 
and passing loosely over the breast and back and under 
the left arm, but half concealing her person above the 
waist, while it left the arms entirely nude. A girdle 
caught the folds of the garment, marking the com- 
mencement of the skirt. The coiffure was very simple 
and becoming — a silken cap, Tyrian-dyed; and over 
that a striped scarf of the same material, beautifully 
embroidered, and wound about in folds so as to show 
the shape of the head without enlarging it; the whole 
finished by a tassel dropping from the crown point 
of the cap. She had rings, ear and finger; anklets and 
bracelets, all of gold; and around her neck there was a 
collar of gold, curiously garnished with a network of 
delicate chains, to which were pendants of pearl. 
The edges of her eyelids were painted and the tips of 
her fingers stained. Her hair fell in two long plaits 
down her back. A curled lock rested upon each cheek 
in front of the ear. AU together, it would have been 
impossible to deny her grace, refinement and beauty.' ' 
This little Tirzah sang sweetly and accompanied 
herself on an instrument called the nebel. She doubt- 
less possessed other pretty accomplishments, and so 
did Jairus' daughter. We can imagine the latter 
playing and singing to her father and mother in the 
cool of the evening, as they sat on the house-top. In 
the east the hot sun of summer drives people indoors 



190 THE DAUGHTER OF JAIRUS 

during the daytime, but evening brings them outdoors 
for air. The flat roofs are used as places of recreation, 
being high enough above the ground to catch every 
passing breeze. In many cases the house-tops are 
decorated with summer houses and gardens, and during 
the Feast of the Tabernacles booths were built on 
them by the Jews. 

When Jairus' daughter was twelve years old she 
fell ill. The father was in despair, for the physicians 
could do nothing to cure her. He was wealthy enough 
to have the most learned doctors, but they did no good. 
In the midst of his distress he thought of Jesus, the 
Great Physician. He had heard of Jesus' miracles — 
how he healed the sick and had even raised the dead — 
for this was after the bringing to life of the widow's 
son. Says St. Luke in his Gospel, after relating that 
marvelous story : 

"And there came a great fear on all; and they 
glorified God, saying that a great prophet is risen up 
among us, and that God hath visited His people. 

'And this rumor of Him went forth through all 
Judea and throughout all the region round about/ ' 

Indeed, such a wonder could not be hidden in a 
corner. 

So Jairus sought Jesus, having faith that He could 
cure his daughter. He found Him surrounded by a 
great crowd of people. He had just returned from the 
other side of the Sea of Galilee, where he had healed a 
poor lunatic who had been possessed by a legion of 
devils. 

Jairus threw himself at the feet of Jesus "and 




THE DAUGHTER OF JARIUS 



THE DAUGHTER OF JAIRUS 193 

besought Him greatly, saying, 'My little daughter 
lieth at the point of death. I pray Thee, come and 
lay Thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she 
shall live.' ' < 

Jesus went with the ruler and the crowd followed 
them, the people thronging and pressing against one 
another. And a certain woman who had been ill for 
twelve years, and who had spent all that she had hiring 
physicians to cure her, but who, in spite of that, found 
herself growing worse instead of better, was in the 
crowd. She had heard of Jesus and believed that he 
could make her well. But the poor creature was 
timid and felt that she dared not lift up her voice and 
ask Him to heal her. Said she to herself, "If I may 
but touch his clothes, I shall be well/ ' 

So she drew as near as she could to Christ and 
reached forth and touched the hem of His garment. 
Immediately her sickness left her and she was per- 
fectly well. 

Jesus knew what had happened, and He asked, 
"Who touched my clothes?" 

The disciples were astonished, for the crowd was 
so dense that it pressed on every side and every one 
was more or less jostled. 

The woman was afraid and she trembled, but she 
fell down before Jesus and told him the truth. And 
he answered with infinite compassion, "Daughter, 
thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace/ ' 

While He was yet speaking, a messenger came 
from the ruler's house to tell him not to trouble Jesus 



194 THE DAUGHTER OF JAIRUS 

further, for his daughter was dead. Yet Jesus said to 
Jairus, "Be not afraid; only believe/ ' 

When they came to the home of the ruler of the 
synagogue they found a great noise of weeping and 
wailing. Hired mourners were already singing the 
death dirge, accompanied by flute players. It is the 
custom of the rich in the Orient to so celebrate a 
death, and preparations for the lament are made in 
advance so as to have it begin as soon as the last 
breath is drawn. 

Jesus said, " Why make ye all this ado, and weep? 
The maid is not dead, but sleepeth." And he put 
the musicians and the mourners out of the room, 
allowing only the mother and the father of the girl 
and His disciples, Peter and James and John, to remain 
with Him by the bedside. The great company laughed 
at Him, for they did not understand what He meant to do. 

Peter and James and John were the sole witnesses 
of some of the chief events in the life of Christ. They 
were present at the Transfiguration, when Jesus 
talked with Moses and Elias on the mount, and they 
alone beheld the agony of Christ in the Garden of 
Gethsemane. 

Jesus took the maiden by her little cold, white 
hand and spoke to her. "Damsel, I say unto thee/ 
arise/ ? 

She arose immediately, and left her bed, and 
walked. Jesus, thoughtful of her, told her parents 
to give her something to eat. How glad those parents 
must have been, and how astonished those unbelieving 
mourners ! 



THE DAUGHTER OF JAIRUS 195 

The poet, Longfellow, tells the story in his "Christus: A mys- 
tery " : 

Jairus, at the feet of Christus (Christ) : 

O, Master ! I entreat thee ! I implore thee ! 

My daughter lieth at the point of death ; 

I pray thee come and lay thy hands upon her; 

And she shall live ! 
Christus: 

Who was it touched my garments? 
Simon Peter : 

Thou seest the multitude that throng and press thee 

And say est thou : Who touched me? 

'Twas not I. 
Christus : 

Some one hath touched my garments; I perceive 

That virtue is gone out of me. 
A Woman : 

Master! 

Forgive me ! For I said within myself, 
If I so much as touch his garment's hem 

1 shall be whole. 
(Shristus : 

Be of good comfort, daughter ! 

Thy faith hath made thee whole. Depart in peace. 
A Messenger from the house : 

Why troublest thou the Master? Hearest thou not 

The flute-players, and the voices of the women 

Singing their lamentation? She is dead ! 
The Minstrels and the Mourners : 

We have girded ourselves with sackcloth ! 

We have covered our heads with ashes ! 

For our young men die, and our maidens 

Swoon in the streets of the city ; 

And into their mother's bosom 

They pour out their souls like water ! 
Christus, going in: 

Why make ye this ado, and weep? 

She is not dead, but sleepeth. 



196 



THE DAUGHTER OF JAIRUS 



The Mother, from within: 
Cruel Death 

To take away from me this tender blossom ! 
To take away my dove, my lamb, my darling ! 

The Minstrels and Mourners : 

He hath led me and brought into darkness, 

Like the dead of old in dark places ! 

He hath bent his bow, and hath set me 

Apart as a mark for his arrow ! 

He hath covered himself with a cloud, 

That our prayer should not pass through and reach him ! 

The Crowd: 

He stands beside her bed ! He takes her hand! 

Listen, he speaks to her ! 
Christus, within: 

Maiden arise! 
The Crowd: 

See, she obeys his voice ! She stirs ! She lives ! 

Her mother holds her folded in her arms ! 

O miracle of miracles ! O marvel ! 




Mary and Martha of Bethany 



Whosoever iiveth and believeth in me shall never die. — St. John 
xi, 26. 

Our Lord has written the promise of the Resurrection not in 
books alone, but in every leaf of springtime. — Martin Luther. 

Be Martha still in deed and good endeavor, 
In faith like Mary, at His feet forever. 

— Coleridge. 

I have not time, like Mary, 

To sit, Lord, at Thy feet, 
Although to hear thy gracious words, 

And rest awhile, were sweet. 

But who would clothe the naked? 

How were the hungry fed? 
Lo, some must serve, oh, Master, 

As Thou Thyself, hath said. 

The curse God laid on Adam 

Rests on us for his sake ; 
Though manna fall from Heaven, 

The bread is still to bake. 

And some must spread the table, 

Or else there were no feast ; 
Hast Thou not bid Thy servants 

Be faithful in the least? 

And yet I, too, like Mary, 

Would choose the better part, 
And though my hands must labor, 

Would hearken with my heart. 

— Sara Mathews Handy. 



Chapter AlV 
AaRY AND MaRJHA OF 

Bethany. 



little village of Bethany 
Mount of Olives/ not 
from Jerusalem, lived two 
sisters, Martha and Mary, with 
their younger brother Lazarus. 
It has been thought that their 
father was Simon, a leper, 
who was either dead or reckoned as 
dead, for lepers were entirely shut 
off from any company but that of 
others having the same dread disease. Martha 
was the housekeeper of the little family and perhaps 
Lazarus was the bread-winner. In "The Prince of 
the House of David" the author assumes that the 
family was poor, and that Mary and Martha earned 
money by the exercise of their needles, and that Laz- 
arus was a scribe who made beautiful copies of the 
Law and of other writings. But there are reasons 
for thinking that the three were well-to-do, perhaps 
wealthy. Certainly the ownership of a private funeral 
vault points to wealth and social position. 

199 




200 MARY AND MARTHA OF BETHANY 

Rich or poor in this world's goods, it does not 
matter, Mary and Martha and Lazarus possessed 
inestimable blessings, they were the friends of Christ 
and He loved them. He used to be an honored guest 
in their home and, whether that home was lowly or 
grand, they gladly gave Him their best. 

Martha was so anxious that things should be just 
right that she spent even more time than was necessary 
over the meals and other household matters. The 
Bible says that she " was cumbered with much serving." 
But Mary left all such things to Martha and, when 
Jesus was in their house, sat at his feet listening to 
His words. One day Martha, worried and perplexed, 
came to Jesus and complained that her sister did not 
help her. Said this busy housekeeper, "Lord, dost 
thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? 
bid her therefore that she help me." 

Mary's defence is well imagined by the poet, 
Longfellow. Martha has just said : 

" She gives up all to be with Him ; while I 

Must be the drudge, make ready the guest chamber, 

Prepare the food, set everything in order, 

And see that naught is wanting in the house. 

She shows her love by words and I by works. " 

Then Mary replies: 

" O Master when Thou comest, it is always 
A Sabbath in the house. I cannot work; 
I must sit at Thy feet; must see Thee, hear Thee ! 
I have a feeble, wayward, doubting heart, 
Incapable of endurance or great thoughts, 
Striving for something that it cannot reach, 



MARY AND MARTHA OF BETHANY 201 

Baffled and disappointed, wounded and hungry; 

And only when I hear Thee am I happy, 

And only when I see Thee am at peace, 

Stronger than I, and wiser, and far better 

In every manner is my sister Martha. 

Thou seest how well she orders everything 

To make Thee welcome ; how she comes and goes, 

Careful and cumbered ever with much serving, 

While I but welcome thee with foolish words 

Whene'er Thou speakest to me, I am happy ; 

When Thou art silent, I am satisfied. 

Thy presence is enough, I ask no more. 

Only to be with Thee, only to see Thee, 

Sufficeth me. My heart is then at rest. 

I wonder I am worthy of so much. " 

Said Jesus, "Mary hath chosen the better part 
which shall not be taken away from her." 

Yet we know that Christ understood Martha and 
appreciated her service. All people are not alike and 
some show their love in one way and others in another. 
He recognized the elder sister 's love as true and we are 
told that " Jesus loved Martha" as well as "her sister 
and Lazarus." 

We can picture Jesus when he was weary and 
travel-worn stopping at Bethany for a brief rest. The 
little household received him with delight, each mem- 
ber showing its gladness in its own way. Jesus found 
in them all that which was worthy of love, but per- 
haps Lazarus as well as Martha needed to be taught 
the unimportance of worldly things as compared with 
the higher life. It has been thought by some that 
Lazarus was the young ruler who came to Christ say- 
ing, "Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal 



202 MARY AND MARTHA OF BETHANY 

life?" If that were the ease a lesson might have been 
needed to teach him and his sisters how little their 
riches were really worth. These conjectures may have 
arisen from a desire to know more about the young 
ruler and to feel that he was saved, in spite of his great 
riches, for Jesus said, "With God all things are possi- 
ble," and when he raised Lazarus from the dead he did 
that which men considered the most impossible of all. 

Except for the twelve Apostles, Lazarus is sup- 
posed to have been the most intimate friend that 
Jesus had. " The friend of Jesus," is a proud title. 

One day Lazarus sickened with one of the sharp, 
malignant fevers of Palestine. It was a disease whose 
progress was very rapid and the sisters sent at once 
for Jesus, feeling that only He could preserve the life 
of their brother. They knew that the Master loved 
Lazarus and were confident that he would respond to 
the message: "Lord, behold, he whom Thou lovest 
is sick." 

Yet the Saviour did not go to his friends at once. 
He waited until Lazarus was dead, Then he said to 
the disciples, "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go 
that I may awake him out of his sleep." 

The disciples did not understand, and they an- 
swered, "Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well," for they 
thought that Jesus meant that Lazarus' fever had 
broken and that he was resting. 

When Jesus and his disciples reached Bethany, 
Lazarus had been dead four days. When Martha 
heard that He was coming she went forth to meet 
Him but Mary stayed in the house. 




MARTHA AND MARY OF BETHANY 



MARY AND MARTHA OF BETHANY 205 

Martha threw herself at Jesus' feet crying, "Lord, 
if Thouhadst been here my brother had not died. But 
I know that even now whatsoever Thou shalt ask of 
God, God will give it Thee." 

"Thy brother shall rise again/ ' said Jesus. 

"1 know that he shall rise again in the resurrec- 
tion of the last day/' answered Martha. 

Then Jesus spoke those comforting words which 
have since been repeated by the graves of millions of 
those who have died believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, 
those glorious words which until the end of time shall 
carry the hope of immortality to sorrowing hearts : 

"I am the resurrection, and the life, he that 
believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. 
And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never 
die." 

Jesus sent for Mary, and when she came to him, 
she fell at his feet, said just what Martha had said, 
"Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not 
died/' and she burst into tears. 

The Jews who were with Mary and Martha were 
weeping also, mourning for the dead and for the sorrow 
of the living. Jesus looked at them and then at Mary 
and then, we are told that He, the Holy One, He who 
had power over life and death, wept. 

The Jews who stood by said, "Behold how he 
loved Lazarus." 

But we do not think that Jesus wept because 
Lazarus was dead. Had He not power to bring him back 
to life? Those sacred tears must have fallen because 
those who were there, even His disciples, even Mary, 



206 MARY AND MARTHA OF BETHANY 

could not understand that he was about to raise Laza- 
rus from the dead. 

Yet Martha had said, " I believe that Thou art the 
Christ , the Son of God, which should come into the 
world. " 

Jesus stood beside the tomb. It was a cave, and 
a stone was in front of the opening. When that had 
been taken away Jesus cried in a loud voice : 

"Lazarus come forth." 

Lazarus obeyed. He that had been dead came 
forth bound hand and foot in his grave clothes ; and 
his face was bound about with a napkin. 

"Loose him, and let him go, " said Jesus. 

" The face of Christ 
Shone as He stood, and over Him there came 
Command, as 'twere the living face of God, 
And with a loud voice, He cried, " Lazarus ! 
Come forth ! " And instantly, bound hand and foot, 
And borne by unseen angels from the cave, 
He that was dead stood with them. At the word 
Of Jesus, the fear-stricken Jews unloosed 
The bands from the foldings of his shroud ; 
And Mary, with her dark veil thrown aside, 
Ran to him swiftly, and cried, ' Lazarus ! 
My brother Lazarus, ' and tore away 
The napkin she had bound about his head, 
And touched the warm lips with her fearful hand. 
And on his neck fell weeping. And while all 
Lay on their faces prostrate, Lazarus 
Took Mary by the hand, and they knelt down 
And worshipped Him who loved them. " 

How soon was their weeping turned into rejoicing. 



MABY AND MAETHA OF BETHANY 207 

People flocked to Bethany to see Lazarus and 
Jesus. 

" From every house the neighbors met, 
The streets were filled with joyful sound, 
A solemn gladness even crowned 
The purple brows of Olivet. v 

Behold a man raised up by Christ 
The rest remaineth unrevealed ; 
He told it not ; or something sealed 
The lips of the Evangelist. " 

They made Jesus a supper and Martha waited on 
the table. Mary took a pound of very costly oint- 
ment and anointed the feet of Jesus and she wiped 
His feet with her long and beautiful hair. The whole 
house was filled with the odor of the precious ointment. 
Judas Iscariot, the disciple who afterwards betrayed 
Jesus, objected to what he considered the waste of the 
ointment. But Jesus rebuked him for finding fault, 
saying: 

" Why trouble ye this woman? for she hath wrought 
a good work upon me. For in that she hath poured 
this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial. 
Verily, I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall 
be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, 
that this woman hath done, be told as a memorial of 
her." 

Thou hast thy record in the monarch's hall ; 
And on the waters of the far mid sea ; 
And where the mighty mountain shadows fall, 
The Alpine hamlet keeps a thought of thee ; 



208 



MAEY AND MAKTHA OF BETHANY 



Where'er, beneath some Oriental tree, 
The Christian traveler rests — where'er the child 
Looks upward from the English mother's knee, 
With earnest eyes in wondering reverence mild, 
There thou art known — where'er the Book of Light 
Bears hope and healing, there, beyond all blight, 
Is borne thy memory, and all praise above ; 
Oh ! say what deed so lifted thy sweet name, 
Mary ! to that pure silent place of fame? 
One lowly offering of exceeding love. 

—Felicia Hemans. 




k^M* 



Chapter 2Qf 

TfiE^ Slave Qirjl of 

Philippi. 



3N the City of Philippi, in Mace- 
donia, there lived a poor slave- 
girl, who was supposed to be 
able to tell the future. She 
made a great deal of money for 
her masters by prophesying 
and telling fortunes for the 
A \\ \ people of Philippi who were very 

iv \ IJ superstitious and who used to consult 
her. Even to-day, when the world 
is much wiser than it used to be, there 
are many people who believe that 
what is going to happen can be fore- 
told by certain gifted people or perhaps they have 
more or less faith in dreams and signs, 

This girl may have been out of her wits and said 
strange things which seemed to have deep meanings. 
Lunatics used to be thought to be possessed by spirits 
or by demons. Indeed, many learned men believe 
that evil spirits really did take possession of people in 
ancient times, especially of wicked people who gave 
themselves over to evil ways of living. Others think 

211 




Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. 
The Acts xvi, 31. 

When a man dies they who survive him ask what property he 
has left behind. The angel who bends over the dying man asks 
what good deeds he has sent before him. — The Koran. 



&■ 



True-hearted, whole-hearted, faithful and loyal, 
King of our lives, by Thy grace we will be ! 

Under Thy standard, exalted and royal, 

Strong in Thy strength we will battle for Thee ! 

True-hearted, whole-hearted ! Fullest allegiance 

Yielding henceforth to our glorious King ; 
Valiant endeavor and loving obedience 

Freely and joyously now would we bring. 

Peal out the watchword, and silence it never, 

Song of our spirits, rejoicing and free! 
"True-hearted, whole-hearted, now and forever, 

King of our lives, by Thy grace will we be. " 

— Frances Ridley Havergal. 



The Slave Girl of Philippi 



212 THE SLAVE GIRL OF PHILIPPI 

that when the Bible speaks of people being possessed 
by devils it is only using the expression of the people 
of that time and that such possession was like the 
insanity of our day. Certainly, crazy people act so 
violently and unaccountably that it often seems as 
though they were governed by wills stronger than 
their own. 

Strange superstitions, survivals of the idea of 
demoniacal possession have come down to our day. 
Many old-fashioned people say "God bless you/' 
when anyone sneezes, for sneezing is an act so sudden 
and so uncontrollable that it has long been looked upon 
as supernatural. More than two thousand years ago, 
Greek nurses used to exclaim "Zeus protect thee/' 
when their little charges sneezed. 

In some parts of the world commending a child 
is supposed to excite the envy or the malice of evil 
spirits and it is usual to follow praise by a retraction 
or a curse in order to divert the attention of the evil 
ones. A curious superstition attaches itself to yawns. 
When yawning, the mouth is open so wide that the 
devil is supposed to have a good chance to jump down 
one's throat. Therefore, if yawning, one must cross 
one's self or say a prayer, quickly, in order to avert 
such a catastrophe. 

Phillippi was the home of Lydia, the Thyratiran 
seller of purple, who was the first person in Europe 
to become converted to Christianity. We are told 
the story of Lydia in the same chapter of the Acts 
which relates that of the damsel "possessed with a 
spirit of divination." 



THE SLAVE GIRL OF PHILIPPI 213 

Thyratira was famous for k& dyeing works, and 
Lydia was a seller of dye or of dyed goods. She im- 
ported her wares from her native town, and sent them 
out from Philippi on pack-horses, which carried them 
to the mountain clans living amid the neighboring 
ranges. 

The apostle Paul went to Macedonia, first, in 
obedience to a vision. One night a man clothed in 
Macedonian garments stood by his bed-side and said: 
"Come over into Macedonia and help us." 

Immediately after he had beheld this vision, the 
apostle, accompanied by Silas, who was with him, 
went to Philippi. The Jewish women of that city 
were in the habit of holding prayer meetings outside 
the gates on the banks of the river. The walls of 
Philippi can be traced to-day, and, only 350 feet 
from the margin of the river, there is an opening in 
them which is supposed to be the very gate through 
which the women went to their prayer meetings. 

The Sabbath morning after his arrival in Philippi, 
Paul went to the women's meeting and spoke to the 
assembled people about Christ, telling the story of 
His life, His death and His resurrection. Lydia, 
listened joyfully to what the preacher said, and be- 
lieved. She and her household, both children and 
servants were baptized and, thereafter, Lydia was a 
good friend of the apostles. She did much work for 
the Lord. She urged Paul and Silas to stay at her 
house while they were at Philippi and they consented. 

Day after day, as Paul and Silas went about the 
streets of Philippi the unhappy slave-girl followed them 



214 THE SLAVE GIKL OF PHILIPPI 

crying, " These men are the servants of the most high 
God, which show unto us the way of salvation. " 

At first Paul, paid no attention to her but, at last, 
feeling sorry for her, he turned and spoke to the spirit 
that possessed her, saying, "I command thee in the 
name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. " 

And immediately the girl was healed and became 
as sane as though nothing had ever been the matter 
with her. This was a very good thing for the poor 
slave but her masters thought not of her but of their 
pockets. Now that the girl was well she could earn 
them no more money by soothsaying. When they 
saw that their hope of gains was gone they were ex- 
ceedingly angry. They laid violent hands on Paul 
and Silas and took them before the magistrates in the 
market place. It is likely that all this happened near 
the market place for it was the custom of the slave-girl 
to go thither. There she found people gathered to- 
gether, buying and selling, and it was easy to obtain cus- 
tom. 

The owners of the slave girl did not tell the magis- 
trates about the healing of the girl. Casting out an 
evil spirit was not an offense against the Roman law. 
They accused the preachers of disturbing the peace 
of the city and of introducing new customs at variance 
with those of the Romans. 

A mob rose up against Paul and Silas and made 
such a tumult that the magistrates, without waiting 
for the formalities of justice, caused the clothing of 
the two men to be torn from them and had them beaten. 
They then sent them to prison, charging the jailer to 




THE SLAVE GIRL OF PHILIPPI 



THE SLAVE GIRL OF PHILIPPI 217 

keep them safely. Bruised and bleeding, Paul and 
Silas were thrust into the inner prison, a dark, foul 
dungeon, and the jailer made their feet fast in the 
stocks. 

Says the Latin Father Tertullian : a That gloomy 
prison was to them what the desert w as to the prophets, 
a holy retreat; one of those solitary places in which 
by preference Christ reveals His glory to His disciples. 
While their body was in fetters, their soul, sublimely 
free in spite of grating doors and guarded passages, 
was pressing on the way to God. The flesh feels no ill 
when the spirit is in heaven.' ' 

They prayed and praised God, rejoicing in being 
allowed to suffer for Christ. The other prisoners 
listened and wondered. 

Suddenly, at midnight, there came a great earth- 
quake which shook the very foundations of the prison. 
Immediately all the doors were opened and every 
one's chains were unfastened. 

The shock of the earthquake awoke the keeper of 
the prison and he sprang from his bed to see what was 
the matter. When he found that the prison doors 
were open he was frightened and drew out his sword 
to kill himself. He thought that all the prisoners had 
fled and that it was better for him to die than to live 
dishonored. 

Paul cried to him, with a loud voice, "Bo thyself 
no harm, for we are all here.' ' 

The jailer's fears were changed to awe and, call- 
ing for a light, he rushed into the cell of Paul and Silas 
and fell down trembling at their feet. 



218 THE SLAVE GIKL OF PHILIPPI > 

"Sirs," he cried, "what must I do to be saved?" 

The answer was one which has been given to 
millions of seekers after salvation. 

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt 
be saved." 

Then Paul told the jailer and all that were with him 
about Jesus, and the jailer and all his household be- 
lieved and were baptized that same night. 

The jailer took Paul and Silas into his own house 
and bathed the stripes which they had received from 
the lash and made them as comfortable as possible, 
giving them food and drink and suitable lodging. 

When morning came, the magistrates, having either 
repented their hasty judgment of the day before, or 
having heard of the wonderful occurrences of the 
night, sent to the keeper of the prison saying: "Let 
those men go." 

The keeper of the prison repeated the message to 
Paul, saying: "The magistrates have sent to let you 
go; now, therefore, depart, and go in peace." 

"They have beaten us openly, uncondemnned, " 
answered Paul, "although we are Romans, and have 
cast us into prison. Now will they discharge us 
privately? No, let them come themselves and let us 
out." 

This was a bold speech for a prisoner to make, 
but Paul knew what he was doing, and that his speech 
would make a proper impression on the magistrates. 
Although a Jew, Paul was a Roman citizen, and a 
Roman citizen could not be bound or imprisoned with- 
out a formal trial, still less beaten. Any infringement 
of the privileges of Roman citizens was visited with 
severe punishment. 



THE SLAVE GIRL OF PHILIPPI 



219 



When the magistrates heard PauPs words they 
were afraid. They went to the men whom they had 
treated so badly and besought them to come away 
from the prison and asked them as a favor to leave 
Philippi. 

This Paul and Silas were willing to do. They 
went to the house of Lydia and, after having said fare- 
well to their converts and their friends departed. 

The church at Phillippi grew and prospered, and 
became distinguished for its liberality. 

We do not know what became of the slave-girl 
whom Paul had cured. Perhaps the apostle com- 
mended her to Lydia and that good woman was able 
to help her. She still belonged to the men for whom 
her fortune-telling had earned money, but her spirit 
was free. Her masters could not prevent her serving 
the King of Heaven and in her thankfulness she must 
have given herself to Him. 




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